Life After the Jump
by therobotchicken
Summary: After taking a dive straight for the ocean to be with Jewel and learning to fly as a result, Blu is expected to carry out what he was brought there for in the first place: to mate with Jewel. But he must also, for Jewel's sake, learn to live in the jungle. But his fears - their safety, and being a father and Jewel's mate - may get the best of him. He must learn to overcome this.
1. After the Jump

**READ FIRST! As you read the first quarter of the this chapter, don't think I'm trying to completely rip off the movie. This just seemed like a good starting place if I wanted to show the night of the last day.**

The cargo door, their gateway to freedom, was taking an eternity to open as Marcel repeatedly shoved the door to the cockpit.

_Come on, Come on,_ Blu thought. The other birds were all getting ready to take off. _I hope they all make it back home,_ he thought to himself, knowing well that he couldn't fly. Finally, when the door stopped, he jumped from the wall and ordered every bird to jump out. "GO, GO, GO!"

"FREEDOOOOOM!" Pedro yelled and the rainbow of birds all flew out in the direction of land.

Jewel grabbed his wing and pulled him to get off the plan as quickly as possible. "Come one. Come on, we gotta get out!"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" he said, escaping Jewel's grasp.

Jewel came to a stop just as she opened her wings. She turned around to the scared bird behind her. She walked over to him to give words of comfort. "Um, it's okay. Hey, it's okay. We'll figure this out together," she extended a wing out to him, "Right?"

Her face of concern quickly turned to horror as a laughing Nigel flew threw the door and landed on Blu's neck. "Let him go!" she yelled, jumping on to the giant cockatoo to attack. He easily threw her to the wall, knocking over a cage that landed on her wing, causing her to yell in pain.

"Jewel!" _That son of a..._

"My wing!" she explained through the pain.

"Oh, pity," Nigel said sarcastically, "now we have two useless flightless birds." He choked Blu harder and laughed. Blu noticed the fire extinguisher he used to open his cage right behind Nigel, so he reached for the hook and put it on Nigel's leg. "Ooh?" Nigel said, having no idea what was going on.

"Not cool man, Not cool," he said sternly to Nigel, before pulling the pin, making the extinguisher rocket him out through the cockpit window. As he gasped for air, the plane started to shake. He had no time to worry about that though, because Jewel was slipping out the plane.

"BLU!" she yelled for him. He ran over to her as quickly as he could but she fell just as he got there. Jewel screamed as she desperately flapped one wing.

Blu hesitated at the edge only to think, I have to. I'm dead anyway. He jumped with his eyes closed and screamed when he "discovered" where he was. As soon as he reached Jewel, he held her in his wings.

"Blu, you're crazy! What are you doing!" she yelled, angered by his decision to throw his life away.

He raised his head above hers and assured her, "I'm not gonna let you go! We're chained-to-each-other-birds, remember?"

Her eyes widened in shock. She looked in to his eyes as her anger diminished to nothing. She was touched that he would give up everything, just to be with her for just a few more seconds. With her eyes closed, she threw her beak to his. Blu's heart skipped a beat as he caught the surprise kiss from his crush. He closed his eyes in bliss and eased in to it. He no longer felt afraid of death, as he could die a happy bird. Something was strange, though. What was this feeling in his chest? Is this what Rafael was talking about? The rhythm of his heart? He was to busy focusing on this to realize that he was spreading his wings.

When his wings were opened at their maximum, he opened his eyes. Instinctively, as if he had done it before, he positioned himself parallel to the water and took himself by surprise when they started moving along the water rather than in to it. He flapped his wings twice to move away from the water. "Oh, wow!" he said, at a loss for words.

"Blu! You're flying!" Jewel said from underneath him, being held onto by Blu's feet.

"Yeah, woohoo! I'm flying! I'm really flying!" he exclaimed, clearly more excited than her. "You were right! I'm not an ostrich, I'm not an ostrich!"

...

After barrelrolling through cable cars to avoid death a second time, he managed to fly his way back to the airport. He could see Túlio, Linda, and Fernando sitting on a plane's wing that had been broken off from Linda's reckless driving. He started flying down to them when Linda looked up, stood, and started telling them, though it was obvious, that Blu was back and that he was flying. Blu descended to the ground as the human trio ran over to them. Linda fell to her knees to get more on their level. She was overwhelmed with joy. Túlio saw Jewel cringe in pain and noticed the state of her wing. He kneeled next to Linda and put his hands out to Jewel. Jewel scooted back in fear, but was unintentionally stopped by Blu. He put a wing on her and gave her a smile that said, "It'll be okay." She knew she could trust Blu, so if he trusted Túlio, she knew she could trust him too. Túlio picked her up carefully as she looked back at Blu.

Blu flew up to Linda's shoulder when Túlio said, "Come on we gotta get back to the Conservation Center."

...

On the taxi ride back to the Conservation Center, Fernando sighed and wondered, "I hope all the other birds are alright." This made both Linda and Túlio look over at him. There was guilt in his voice. Blu climbed over to him and tapped his arm with his claw. Blu gave Fernando an assuring nod with a smile.

Fernando's expression lightened up a bit, before Túlio commented. "I thought there would be other birds on that plane! It's good to know that they're safe."

...

When they finally got back to the Center, Túlio paid the taxi driver and briskly walked inside. Linda and Fernando walked just as fast. Everyone inside gave them weird stares. It didn't take Linda and Túlio very long to look down at themselves and realize that they were still wearing their Carnival outfits. Túlio paused for a second before taking authority. "Okay, everybody, it's a long story, but I haven't been partying. Jewel has a broken wing and I need volunteers to help me out with this. Everybody suddenly ran over to him, eager to help him. "You and you," Túlio said pointing to two random people in lab coats. Before they could leave to operate on Jewel, who looked frightened and uncertain about what they would do to her, Blu flew over to her, landing on Túlio's arm. Blu rubbed her neck with his tenderly and she rubbed back.

"Blu, I think you should go wait in the breeding room," Túlio told him. Blu agreed and flew over to the door that he was led in to on his first visit. A nearby assistant helped him in. Inside, he looked around the familiar room. He saw the tree where he first tried to kiss Jewel (he'd have tell Nico and Pedro about that). He chuckled to himself and flew up to it.

...

A metal screech woke him up from the nap he'd fallen into on accident. He quickly looked over to the metal hatch. Through it came a scared-looking Jewel. When she turned left, obviously looking for Blu, he immediately noticed the cast around her wing. For some reason he felt as if it was his fault she'd gotten it in the first place. He ignored it and flew down to her. "Jewel!" he called.

She looked up in the direction of his voice and said, "Blu!" in return. Blu landed right in front of her and she immediately pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. Although she could only use one wing, she could use it pretty well.

"It's... good... to see... that... you're... doing well..." he said in between microscopic breaths.

Realizing the amount of force she was applying, she let go of him to give him a chance at some air. "Oh Blu, I was so scared with all those humans around me!" she explained to him, before burying her face in his chest in tears.

Blu did the only thing he could to comfort her and patted her on the head and said, "It's okay, Jewel. I'm here right now."

She took her face out of his chest and said, "I know, thanks."

"How about we get some sleep? It's been a long day." Blu suggested, motioning his head toward the tree he was on earlier.

"That guy—"

"Túlio?"

"Yeah, him. He told me to sleep in the hollow until my wing gets better."

"Hollow?" Blu asked, confused.

"Here, I'll show you."

Jewel led him to the central tree and pointed to a hole in it. "Right there."

"Hm, never knew that was there. Okay," Blu said before flying behind her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Jewel inquired.

"I thought I'd carry you up there," Blu answered, confused as to why she'd ask.

She walked a foot away and turned to him. "No thanks, Blu. I can climb up there," she said, looking over to the pegs in a tree that Blu climbed when they first met.

"Are you sure?" he asked, not confident in her disability.

"Yes," she answered in an annoyed tone.

"Okay," Blu agreed, not wanting to upset her further.

Jewel clumsily climbed up the ladder. Blu decided to climb too, as he saw no point in flying. When they reached the top, they crossed the convenient bridge of branches to the hollow. Blu was surprised to see that there was a large cushion that fitted the floor perfectly. Also, it looked new, almost as if it had never been used.

"I've never slept here, cause I didn't trust the humans. I preferred to sleep the natural way."

"How long were you here, in the Conservation Center?" Blu asked.

"Um, just a few weeks, before I met you," she replied, "and got kidnapped," she added. Blu was walking around the hollow, taking note of how much bigger it seemed on the inside.

Jewel turned around and looked out the window. The moon distinguished itself more than usual from the sea of black that was the night. _What a beautiful night_, she thought. _Maybe we could..._ Jewel turned around and saw Blu lying down comfortably. _I'll give him time._

She walked over to Blu and laid down next to him, just close enough to make contact. Blu blushed, but dropped it when he felt a shiver from her. He thought for a moment and decided to wrap his wing around her. His blush was back. Wanting more warmth, Jewel snuggled closer to him. In return for his kindness, she wrapped a wing around him. Was it possible for Blu to blush harder at this point?

**Well, there you go. That's my first story. I've been dyeing to write this for a while, so I hope you enjoyed. If you didn't that's fine too. Please, just don't give me any flame. If you're going to comment, make sure it's something positive or constructive. Flame just wastes your time and mine as well. This the only chapter I have right now (September 13, Germany). I didn't even bother preparing some other chapters before publishing this. I can only write in my spare time, so whenever I can, I will prepare a few chapters and publish them once a week, I guess.**


	2. Good Morning

**Wow, thanks for the positive reviews. However, keep in mind that I am by no means a writer. I think you guys might be judging to early. Language arts is my second least favorite class, but when it comes to grammar/spelling, I'm great. (That previous statement is either coming out of modesty or lack of confidence.) "Now you should also work on describing, and also move at a pace a little slower that the one you're moving at now."—Darksabre102 I'll work on that, thanks for the tip. I thought that would be a problem early on, but I published the story anyway to see if anybody would say anything. I have a concern for my story though, and that's keeping Blu and Jewel in character. I've read some other stories, most notably "Chained Together Birds" (by The Scarlet Macaw) and Corration's duo of trilogies, and they both have different, yet interesting, ideas for Blu and Jewel's attitude toward one another. In "Chained Together Birds," Jewel acts like someone who doesn't want anything to do with others and Blu tries to act smooth with her. In Corration's series, Blu and Jewel frequently have sex, and Blu is sometimes the one who asks. No criticism is meant toward these two authors; I love their stories. The fact that this is based off of a G-rated movie also makes it even more difficult to make believable. I'll keep doing my best, but you're probably sick of reading this long author's note, so here's chapter 2.**

Jewel woke up in the middle of the night, feeling a need to do her business. She got out from under Blu's wing, which just fell to the floor. She went outside for only about fifteen seconds before coming back in. As she walked closer to Blu, she could hear him mumbling in his sleep. Her curiosity took over, and she just stood in front of Blu, smiling as she listened carefully.

"Kids..." was the first thing she heard him say. Was he really already thinking of that? "Jewel... not ready... protect... jungle... instincts... domesticated... useless..." Jewel gasped silently at the last word. Did he really think that about himself? Was his self esteem that low?

She lowered her head and tried to wake him. "Blu... Blu, wake up." Blu, instead, continued to mutter nonsense to himself. She took a moment to think more about what he had said. _Is there anything that I can do to help him? Knowing him, he wouldn't talk to me about it directly, so I guess I can't force him to._ She picked up his wing and threw it over her as she laid back down next him, snuggling for his warmth. She put her own wing back around him to keep him warm as well. She then planted a gentle kiss on top of his beak before falling back asleep.

...

Blu woke, irritated, to the morning sun hitting his eye through the opening of the hollow. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, though, was Jewel's face right in front of him, her beak touching his. His nervous fear of Jewel made him forcefully jump away from her, waking her as well.

"Blu, what's wrong!"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw a... a spider."

Jewel quickly scanned the hollow from where she was, still lying down, before saying, "Well, there's nothing now." She slowly got up and stretched her wings and legs. She then turned to Blu and walked toward him. Blu, already against the wall, just looked at her nervously. She put a gentle wing on his shoulder and pulled him in to a hug. If she could comfort him, maybe he would forget his worries about the jungle, or his instincts, or being able to protect her.

"Thanks for keeping me warm last night," she said before letting him go.

"Thanks to you, too," Blu said with a red face. "How about we go get some breakfast?" he suggested.

"Um..."

"What's the matter?"

Jewel made her request. "Could I stay here? I'm still not comfortable around humans."

"Oh, is that it? Come on, it'll be fine. Besides, I'll be there."

That was enough of an argument for Jewel. She looked at her rather handsome mate-to-be and gave in. "Fine, lead the way."

Blu led her out of the hollow and across the bridge. He got on to the ladder first, so that, in the event that Jewel missed a step, he could catch her and let her replace her foot; he had a feeling she wasn't to use to ladders, judging by the clumsy way she was climbing. Once they'd both gotten down, they started making their way to the room's bird door.

Along the way, Blu, couldn't help but wonder something. "I just thought of something, Jewel. Why haven't you ever tried escaping through here?"

"I have tried. But it was locked, and even if it wasn't locked, I'm sure that there would be at least one person there who would try to stop me."

"Oh, um... Okay." Blu blushed in embarrassment at the logical answer.

When they finally reached the door, Blu started knocking with his wing. "I sure hope someone can hear this," he said to Jewel and himself.

A moment later, one of the assistants opened the door and let them through. They immediately spotted Túlio working on another bird and walked over to him.

Focusing on the other bird, Túlio took no notice of them, so Blu squawked happily to get his attention. Túlio immediately spun around in his seat, surprised that they were already up and out of the breeding room. "Hey, you two," he said delightedly. "Could you hold on for a second, I have to finish treating this little guy." It only took a minute for him to turn back to them. "Okay Jewel, I need you to wait right here." He got up and went to the medicine cabinet. He pulled out a bottle and came back to open the drawer of his work station. Out of the drawer he drew a syringe.

"Um, Blu. What is he gonna do with that?" she asked suspiciously. "It looks kind of sharp." The way she was staring at it matched her tone of voice.

"I guess he's just going to poke it into your wing and inject some kind of pain killer into it," Blu answered nonchalantly as Jewel's expression turned to panic. Blu quickly turned to her, realizing what he had just told her. He tried to get the next part of the explanation out as quickly as he could. "But-But-But, i-it doesn't hurt at all. It's just a little pinch," he rushed out, gesturing with his wingtips to show the size of the pain if it were a tangible object.

She slowly turned back to Túlio, who looked ready to administer the shot. She held out her injured wing and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, Túlio had already done his work and gone to sterilize the needle.

"See, was that so bad?" Blu asked.

"No, I guess not." Blu smiled at the answer. He thought it was kind of funny to see Jewel scared of something so little.

As soon as Túlio came back, he swiftly pulled a filled spoon from behind his back and shoved it into Blu's gaping mouth. Not wanting to dirty his feathers, Blu reluctantly swallowed the familiarly horrifying liquid.

"Linda informed me to give you your vitamins every morning." He left again to wash the spoon.

Blu heard a giggle from Jewel. "What's so funny?" he asked, sounding serious.

Jewel's giggling soon turned into full on laughter. In between bursts, she'd say, "And to... think that I... was afraid of that shot a minute ago."

Blu's expression soon lightened. He liked seeing Jewel laugh like this. As a matter of fact, it was the first time he'd ever seen Jewel laugh so hard. "Ha ha, very funny," he said sarcastically.

Túlio came back and asked, "So, Blu, are you excited about the eggs?"

Both Blu and Jewel looked at each other's invisibly red face. Blu was the first to speak. "E-eggs? But-but we haven't..." Blu trailed off, on the verge of fainting from the last word he'd dare not speak.

"I know, what's he talking about?" Rather than panicked, her voice was more confused.

They both looked up at Túlio, equally perplexed by the question. "What's with that look you're giving me? I know what you two did when you first met." Their expressions didn't change. "Come with me, I'll show you." He scooped them onto his arms and took them to the control room, which overlooked the breeding room. He started using the buttons surrounding the monitor to skip through footage of the room. He finally reached the footage of Blu and Jewel, who were both on a tree. Jewel smiled as she watched the footage of Blu leaning in for a kiss. Then Jewel yelling. Then the disco ball. "Here it is!" Túlio said excitedly. In the video, Blu was holding Jewel romantically, and then Jewel pulled Blu's head down forcefully. In the video, it looked like she was trying to force him into a make out session. Blu and Jewel thought the same thing and blushed, trying to keep their eyes away from each other.

"There you have it. You can't deny that you've mated," Túlio said to them matter-of-factly with a smirk. From the corner of his own eye, Blu saw the footage of Jewel attacking him. He made a spinning motion with his wing to tell Túlio to turn back to the screen. It was obvious that he was surprised by what he saw. "I-I-I don't understand. It looked like you two were uh... 'having fun.'" Blu smacked himself and made a writing gesture with his foot. "What's that, Blu, you need a pencil?" Blu nodded. Túlio left the two alone to go get one. Blu turned back to Jewel. Although his face was covered by blue feathers his blush was quite visible.

" I see what he means. It does look like what he thinks it is."

"You should see your face," Jewel teased as she rewinded the footage. She stopped at the part where he tried to kiss her. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you try to kiss me before?"

With his face cooled off and slower heart rate, he answered. "I was following Nico and Pedro's advice. They told me to act confident and make the first move. Turns out it didn't work. I'll get 'em back for it," he joked. Jewel just chuckled. Blu thought it was kind of cute.

Túlio returned with a pencil and paper and handed them to Blu. Blu took the pencil, but paused for a moment. "Um, what did I wanna tell him?" he asked, looking back at Jewel.

"I think you wanted to explain this," she answered, pointing at the screen, which was paused at the moment of Blu's romantic hold.

"Oh, right." He began writing a short message. When he finished, he slid the paper to Túlio. It read, "That was a COMPLETE accident. She attacked me and she just happened to fall into my wings."

"Oh, well... okay. Just don't take too long." The sentence felt very awkward for Túlio to say. Blu could tell by his tone of voice that he was disappointed by the fact that he and Jewel hadn't mated yet. However, copulation was the last thing on Blu's mind. His number one priority was to help Jewel while her wing heals. After all, they were just friends, right?

"Now that we've gotten that cleared up, how about we head back for some food? I bet you two are starving." Come to think of it, he was right. Blu and Jewel had barely eaten anything yesterday. Both of their stomachs growled audibly at the suggestion.

Back upstairs, Túlio took them to a rather small room with a table-for-four in the center. He set them down on said table and opened a fridge behind himself. Inside the fridge was an assortment of fruits, which were obviously snacks for any people who had to stay late or birds who had been treated at the center. Jewel immediately spotted the mango in the fridge, squawked happily, and jumped over to it. Both Blu and Túlio were surprised by her excitement at the fruit. Túlio pulled out the mango and went to the counter to start cutting it.

When Túlio put Jewel down nest to Blu, Blu said, "Wow, I didn't know you liked mangos so much."

"Yeah, I love 'em. My parents used to feed them to me as a chick and they've been my favorite fruit since." Jewel tripped over the word "parents." Blu was curious, but thought it best not to ask about them. Túlio came back with a slice of the mango after wrapping the remainder of it in plastic wrap and putting it back in the refrigerator. Jewel walked over to the mango and started to slowly eat it, savoring the taste. Blu just stood next to her, watching her eat. He smiled and thought, _She's so cute when she eats._

Jewel opened an eye at him and asked, "You want some?"

Blu came out of his daze and answered. "Yeah, sure." He'd never tried mangoes before, as they were a rare sight back in Minnesota. He scooped up a piece of mango with his beak and chewed. His face glowed at the flavor. "Wow, this is delicious!" he exclaimed before he ferociously dug in for more. Though the mango was good, it was hunger that made him eat so fast.

By the time he had finished, he had eaten a little more than half of the mango slice. Jewel saw this, so she picked up her pace so that they could move on. Blu just watched on, blushing as she gently scooped up pieces with her beak. If he wasn't so timid, he wished he could feel that same gentle beak again.

Jewel finally finished eating and turned to him. "So what do you wanna do now? I kind of want to get out here. I could use some fresh air."

Blu came out of his daze and thought about what she said. Was it okay if she got out a bit? _I guess there's no harm in doing so. I kind of want to see Linda again, anyway._

"Just wait here," he said to her before flying out of the room. He quickly came back with the pencil and paper he had written on earlier. He scribbled, "Is it alright if Jewel and I go out?" He read over the short question. He panicked when he finished and erased the question mark.

"What's wrong, Blu?" Jewel asked, noticing his panicking state.

"Nothing! It's nothing!" he said defensively. He then added "side for a bit? I want to see Linda." He dragged the paper to Túlio, who had fallen asleep, obviously still tired from the past three days. He pecked Túlio hard and managed to wake him. Túlio lazily picked up his head from the table and looked at Blu.

"Blu? What... did you do that for?" He saw the note and picked it up. After reading it, he smiled. "Sure," was all he said. He wanted to see Linda, too.

**Well I had fun writing this. In an earlier stage of this chapter, I had Jewel kiss Blu to "give him a taste of the mango." (Yes there was tongue) In the end, though, I went against the idea as I thought it made Jewel seem as if she was coming on to strong (I also didn't know where to go or what to make Blu say anyway). That reminds me; when I first wrote chapter one, I had Jewel try to get Blu to mate with her. I don't know why I didn't mention that before. Again, I thought Jewel was going a bit fast, and took out the scene.**


	3. Bath Time at Linda's and the Internet

Blu and Jewel sat in the back of the new Jeep—since Fernando traded the old one for a motorcycle—all the way to the hotel Linda was staying in. Blu looked out the window, taking in the beauty around him. Because the street was covered in confetti and trash, no doubt from Carnival, he could not experience the full beauty of Rio, however. Every once in a while, he would turn back to Jewel, who was trying to get some more sleep since she had been woken up earlier than usual.

Many thoughts raced through Blu's head. _Does she feel the same way for me that I feel about her? If so, why? Because we're the last of our kind? _He rubbed his beak, thinking of the kiss they shared before meeting their supposed doom._ Maybe that was just in the heat of the moment. I mean, we were about to die. _He sighed. _What do we do when her wing is healed? Obviously, she'll go back to the jungle. As for me, do I go too or do I stay with Linda? If I go to the jungle, I can be with her, but how can a domesticated bird like me, who can barely fly, survive out there? ...For once, I think this is something a book can't teach me._

With that last thought, they arrived at a rather large hotel. Blu prodded Jewel awake with his wing. "Jewel, Jewel. We're here." She slowly opened her eyes to a pleasant sight: Blu. "Come on, Jewel. We're at Linda's." She stood up and stretched some more. Blu picked her up with his talons and dropped her off on the pavement outside. Túlio picked her up to have her stand on his arm while Blu stood on his shoulder.

They—Túlio— walked up four flights of stairs. The hotel was rather nice, considering it was in a newly-considered industrialized country. With it's clean carpet and spacious lobby, it wasn't too different from any hotel in America. When they eventually stopped at a door numbered 409, Túlio pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket. "This should be it," he said to them before knocking on the door. It didn't take long for Linda to open the door. Her tired face turned to surprise at the sight of Túlio and the two Spix's Macaws. Blu squawked and leapt onto Linda's shoulder where he rubbed his head against hers affectionately. He jumped onto the nearby table. Linda and he then performed their trademark handshake.

She turned to Túlio and asked, "So, how's Jewel?"

Túlio carefully put Jewel down on the table next to Blu and answered. "She seems to be doing better, but she'll be stuck in the cast for about two weeks."

Jewel's face dropped as she faced Blu. He noticed and just gave a look that said "I don't know what to say." Finally, after a few seconds, he said, "It's okay, Jewel. I'll stick with you for the two weeks and then you can be free in the jungle." Was he implying that he wouldn't go?

"Wait, why is it just me?" Jewel asked, shocked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. _We_ can be free in the jungle," Blu answered, unsure of his words. Nonetheless, he patted her back to reassure her.

She smiled at him. "And then we can have some privacy," she mumbled to herself.

"What was that?" Blu asked, totally missing whatever she just said.

Realizing that she had thought aloud, she quickly answered. "Nothing, nothing."

All of a sudden, a random thought occurred to Blu. It had been a week since he had taken a bath. Was it weird for him to take a bath, though? He decided to consult Jewel. "Do birds normally take baths in the jungle?"

Jewel paused. "Uh, yeah they do. I guess about once a week is normal."

"Okay, cause I really need one right now. Come on." Blu helped her off of the table before leading her to the room in which he saw a tub.

The way the tub's faucet was set up was surprisingly similar to the faucet setup back in Minnesota. He turned the red-dotted knob and felt the water with his wing. He immediately jerked his wing back to get it away from the Hell-hot water. He turned the blue-dotted knob a little to balance out the temperature of the running water. It was now very warm, but very tolerable. It was the kind of water you'd like to lay in after being in the snow all day. After testing it, Blu jumped in and started soaking himself the best he could. Jewel blushed at the sight of Blu bathing. Now, he was picking the feathers underneath his left wing. She jumped in and walked over to him without him noticing. She stuck the point of her beak into his back feathers to preen his feathers, but Blu jumped away in shock.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm getting your back," she answered, still blushing.

Blu noticed her awkward demeanor and asked, "Why are you like that right now?"

"Like what?" she had to ask as she didn't fully understand what he meant.

"You know... Like me... Awkward."

"Oh. It's just that... this is something mates normally do," she said, staring at the floor of the bathtub, trying to hide her face.

Blu immediately broke down. "W-W-Well, th-then why are we b-both in here? Here, I'll just get out. You can go first."

"No, Blu, wait!" she yelled. "I... I don't really mind if we bathe together. Besides I need you to help me with my back."

Blu shifted his feet uneasily in the water, debating on whether he should stay or leave. He decided on the former. He turned around and continued plucking bad feathers under his wings and chest. Jewel, glad that he stayed, continued running her beak down his back, searching for bad feathers. All his moving made it difficult to steadily move down his back, though.

"Blu, you're moving too much," she said.

"Oh! Sorry." He stopped preening himself and just stood still. He felt himself shiver each time Jewel went down his back. He sighed mentally and lay in the water, pleased by the sensation.

After another minute, Jewel finished her job and turned around. "Okay, now it's my turn to relax," she said as she lay down. Blu walked to her side nervously and stared at her for a few seconds to admire her head feathers. All the other feathers around her body seemed very neat and well-kept. He prevented himself from looking at her long tail feathers. He bent down and carefully went through her feathers just as she had done for him. Jewel gave a hard shiver.

"Sorry."

"Oh, no, no. It's fine. That just felt good." Blu continued. _Wow, he's so gentle, _she thought.

Blu noticed that she didn't really have that many feathers that needed plucking. What he didn't notice, however, were the two humans watching them in the doorway.

One of them coughed. Startled, Blu accidentally plucked some of her under-feathers, resulting in an _Ow!_ from Jewel. "Blu! What was that for?" She noticed Blu wasn't looking at her, but away. She turned to see Linda and Túlio both giggling at what they'd just witnessed.

"Sorry, were you two enjoying your bath?" Linda asked jokingly.

"Good job, Blu. Way to take initiative," Túlio complimented, giving Blu two thumbs up.

Blu spat out Jewel's feathers and turned around in embarrassment, the temperature rising in his face. Jewel simply looked left to the wall and covered her face with her wing.

Linda kneeled down to get something in the cabinet under the sink. "Come here, you two. I'll dry you off," she said as she pulled out a hair dryer. Blu hesitated to turn around. When he did, he shook himself dry of most of the water and flew Jewel up to the counter. Linda pointed the now-plugged-in hair dryer at them and turned it on. Jewel was at first startled by the strong wind and loud noise that emanated from it, but quickly calmed down when she saw how calm Blu was. She closed her eyes just as he did and let the warm wind dry her off.

Both of their eyes shot open when Linda suddenly asked them, "So how are those eggs coming along?"

Túlio quickly jumped in to explain. "Blu already told me. They haven't mated... yet."

Blu became a little irritated. _What is with you? I know you want us to save the species, but come on._ He turned to Jewel to find that he was looking at him.

Jewel found this a perfect time to mess with Blu. "You know, Blu, if you ever want to get to work on that, don't be afraid to ask." Blu backed away from her a little, almost falling off of the counter. "Relax, Blu. I'm only kidding." _Kind of._

...

Now, they were back on the desk, looking out the window. Túlio had changed Jewel's cast, because it got wet. Jewel had been looking at the thin, black box-shaped thing next to them for a while. Blu noticed and asked, "What is it, Jewel?"

"What's that?" she asked him while pointing at it.

"That? That's a computer, a laptop more specifically."

"What does it do?"

"The question is more like 'What doesn't it do?' You can use it to go on the internet, chat with people, write documents, and more."

"You can talk to others? Like, all over Rio?"

"All over the world, assuming that they're online at the same time."

"Could you show me?"

"Sure." Blu walked up to the laptop and stuck his claw in between the two halves to start prying it open. Once he made a space about the thickness of his head, he used his body to pry the the rest open.

He gasped for air as he rested from the effort it took to open the laptop. After recovering, he dragged the mouse next to it over to the front. He pressed the power button above the keyboard to get it out of sleep mode. He typed in the password when prompted. As all of the desktop icons popped up, a picture of Blu as a chick came up as the background (which was set to random.).

"Aaah, you're adorable as a chick," Jewel commented.

"Heh heh. Thanks," he said shyly. He kind of wished Jewel hadn't seen the picture. Blu double-clicked the Internet Explorer icon. The internet was much slower here than in Minnesota, so he found himself waiting longer than usual."

Jewel asked, "So how do you talk to others?"

Blu answered. " Well, there are many ways to do that, but I personally prefer Facebook."

"How do you get there?"

"Like this," he said as the website loaded and he began typing in the address bar. Jewel was amazed by the speed at which he could type with one foot.

When prompted, Blu typed in his email address and password into the corresponding bars. His home page came up. "Yeah, so uh, there's a chat bar right there in the lower right corner that you can use to chat as if they were actually there. Or you could send them a private message if you don't want anyone else to see. I actually have a message right now." He clicked on the messages tab at the top of the page to reveal a drop-down menu. The most recent message read, "Check out this video, lol."

"So, you're not the only one who can read?"

"No, of course not. A lot of humans teach their birds how to read, I guess."

Blu clicked the link in the message. Youtube opened up in a new window. Both Blu and Jewel's eyes widened in shock as a video of two cockatiels fiercely getting intimate played. Blu panicked for the mouse. Under the pressure of trying to close the window as quickly as possible, he found it incredibly difficult to get the cursor onto the 'Close' button in the top right corner of the screen. When he finally managed to close out of the internet, he faced Jewel with a purple face (his blush had mixed in with his feathers).

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry you saw that!"

Jewel, who also blushed, asked, "Does that normally happen?"

"No, no, no. But, sometimes others can pull pranks like that."

There was an excited tap on the window. They both looked at the source and saw the samba-loving, bottle cap-wearing yellow canary, Nico, and the self-proclaimed "samba masta" red-crested cardinal, Pedro, now trying to tackle their way through the window. Blu squawked to call Linda. Linda walked over and noticed the two birds repeatedly hitting the glass.

"Friends of yours, Blu?" Blu nodded.

As soon as they had a big enough opening, Nico and Pedro each tackled either Blu or Jewel. Nico asked them, "Man, where have you two been?"

Pedro said, "I can't believe your actually still alive. Well, I can, cause Jewel here coulda just flown you two—" He noticed her cast. "Hold up, what happened to Jewel, and how did you two get off that plane without her?"

Blu then took off and made one lap around the room. Landing, he saw that Nico and Pedro were genuinely surprised. "Wow, Blu! You're fourteen years late to the party, but you've finally arrived."

Pedro added on to that. "Yeah, good job saving Jewel. What else has happened in the past day?"

"I think I know," Nico said, nudging Pedro. He had that certain look in his eye and tone in his voice.

"Don't be ridiculous. Why would they have to watch that video if they've already done it?" Pedro pointed out.

"You guys saw that?" asked a surprised Blu.

"Yep, all the five seconds that it was up," Nico said.

"Hey, that wasn't his fault. Somebody sent that to him on Facebook," Jewel explained.

"Yeah, and we have **NOT** done that yet." Whoops. Everybody's eyes widened at him. "Oh, no, no, no! I didn't mean yet! That'll never happen!"

"Riiiiiiight," Nico said sarcastically. "So what's Facebook?"

Blu spent the next few minutes going over all the features of Facebook and other functions of the laptop that Blu couldn't get to earlier on account of the video. Nico and Pedro both begged for Blu to show them the video his friend sent him, but he and Jewel refused.

The trio was amazed by all the things that the device could do, as they'd never seen anything like it before. They were even more impressed by Blu's ability to type and read the human language.

Suddenly, Nico said, "Hey, guys, I just thought of something. If we can understand humans and each other just fine, then why can't the humans understand us?"

Everybody froze. Finally Blu said something. "Huh, I've uh, never thought of something like that." They all brushed it off, knowing that there wasn't an answer.

Blu had finally shown them everything that he could think of on the laptop. Before Nico and Pedro left, Nico said, "Man, we gotta go tell Raphy and everyone at the club that ya'll are alright, right now. See ya!" They briskly jumped out the window and flew off.

Timed perfectly, Linda came up behind them and asked, "Are you two ready to go?" The both squawked. Linda and Blu did their handshake one more time. Linda also scratched him under his beak, his favorite spot to be scratched.

_Thanks for the tip, Linda,_ Jewel thought as Blu thoroughly enjoyed it.

Túlio came over and picked them up. "Bye, Linda. Maybe if I'm not busy, we can come over tomorrow."

"Sure, Túlio. See ya. Don't be a stranger, Blu. Come visit whenever you want." To this, Blu squawked.

...

Blu and Jewel were back in the breeding room, a place that gave him shivers every time it was mentioned or he was in it. He was sitting next to Jewel on a branch. They were looking out the window.

"Thanks for preening my feathers, today," Jewel said.

Blu blushed, remembering that she told him that mates normally do that. "Don't mention it. I need to thank you for preening mine. Um... do only mates do that or do birds of the same gender bathe together?"

"Same genders also do it. It's just that opposite genders don't typically bathe together unless they have a special relationship."

"Did you bathe with your parents?"

Jewel flinched at the mention of her parents. "Y-yeah. I did all the time."

Blu realized what he said and apologized. "Oh! Jewel, I'm sorry I said that! I shouldn't have asked!"

She looked up at him with teary eyes. "Don't be. I need to tell you, so I can get it off my chest... You know how I told you I'd lost everything because of humans."

"Yeah," he answered sadly. He couldn't stand seeing Jewel like this.

"I was only three... My parents had gone out to get some breakfast for all of us. I woke up to see that they weren't there. I'd never gone out on my own before. My curiosity got the better of me... I went outside and walked around the ground for a bit, and I came across a dish of fruit and nuts. Being a naive chick, I walked up to it to eat, but a cage fell on me. I was trapped. My parents came shortly afterward and got me out, but they got trapped by a net... They yelled at me to fly away, because we could all hear footsteps coming. I finally flew away and watched from a tree as my parents were taken away. The last thing I ever heard from them was, "We love you." I had an old friend, but when I went to his hollow, he wasn't there. I checked every day, but eventually gave up on him. I've spent my time alone all these years when I heard that I was the last Spix's macaw in Rio."

Blu listened carefully to every detail of her story. He had had no idea that Jewel had such a tragic past. Jewel dried her eyes on his chest, sniffling every few seconds.

Blu put a wing around her and brought her closer to comfort her. He also used one of his wing feathers to rub her head. He didn't feel nervous for a change. Jewel was having a hard time right now, so he did the only thing he could think of. But, he felt discomfort himself. Jewel obviously knew her parents well, but he... he didn't know a thing about his parents; he was too young when he was captured.

Jewel was enjoying the feeling of being this close to Blu. He would give her great comfort whenever she needed it.

She stood up. "Come on. Let's get some sleep."

Blu got up and followed her into the hollow. They lay down next to each other close enough for their wings to make contact.

"Good night, Jewel."

"Good night, my Blu bird," Jewel said back to him. Blu blushed at the nickname.

**I originally had Jewel confess to Blu after she told him her life story, but thought it best to leave that out. That'll come soon though, but when I think it's the right time. **

**I'm thinking about a Happy Feet fanfic after this. Does anyone have any song suggestions? Of course, the songs have to seemingly go together. The Happy Feet fanfic is just a thought right now (10/10/11). I have not given the plot any thought at all. Without songs, the fanfic will never happen though, so I'll wait for those. If you're going to suggest a song, though, PLEASE PM IT TO ME. KEEP IT OUT OF THE REVIEWS! I'm actually surprised by the deficit of MumbleXGloria fanfiction.**

**Actually, if things play out the way I currently plan, there will be a sequel about one of Blu and Jewel's chicks. It should be more original than this story.**

**To answer The son of The Scarlet Macaw's question, the actual story starts off from when Túlio picks up Jewel at the end and goes from there, ignoring the ending song.**

**To TheWittySmartArse: So it reminds you of Jungle Instincts, huh? Scheiße! I'm trying to keep the similarities between my story and Corrations' few and limited. I guess it can't really be avoided, though as it's about Jewel trying to get Blu to mate with her. I think the main difference is that mine doesn't have an actual villain. The conflict derives more from between Blu and Jewel & Blu himself. Please update "Spring is in the Air" soon. I can't wait to read more of that.**


	4. Going Out for a Bit

**Wow, I'm quite amazed that I've already gotten 13 reviews in just three chapters. Thanks for the positive feedback.**

Blu woke up again to the sun's rays hitting his eye. _I really need to sleep in a different spot._ He saw Jewel next to him, but saw no reason to wake her up early like last time. He got up and walked out of the hollow. Outside, he looked at the branch they sat on last night. He thought of the story Jewel told him. He needed to cheer her up, he thought. He decided to get a mango slice for them to share.

...

Blu returned with the mango slice. Túlio had also given him a Ziploc bag of apple slices and grapes. He brought each up to the hollow individually, knowing that the effort of carrying both the bag and the mango would be too much for him.

Upon returning from the second trip, he found that Jewel had woken up.

"Good morning, Blu," she greeted.

"Good morning, sleepy head," he said back.

"Did you get this for me?" she asked him, pointing at the mango slice.

"Yeah, of course. I thought you might need some cheering up." He paused. "Look, Jewel. I-I'm real sorry about last night. I should have never brought that up."

"Don't be. Think nothing of it. Come on, let's eat the mango."

They both ate slowly—or rather they tried to, but the mango was especially sweet. When they finished it, Blu pulled over the bag of apples and grapes.

"What are those, Blu?"

"What? You've never had apples or grapes?"

"Never heard of 'em."

"Oh, they're delicious. They're quite common in America. I think I even saw someone selling them when I first came here."

"Huh. Well I've never seen them in the jungle. Can you pass me one of those round ones."

"That's a grape. Here you go," he said, passing her a grape.

She tore half of it off with her beak, wanting to get a good taste of it. It was pretty sweet, but nowhere near as good as the mango. After swallowing, she said, "Wow, this is good, but I think I still prefer the mango. But, I guess it's good to change it up a bit." She threw the rest of the grape into her mouth. She stuck her head into the plastic bag and tried the apple. It was awful, though there was nothing wrong with it. She somehow managed to swallow it though. "Ugh, I don't think I like this one. It's disgusting!"

_Well that's a bit harsh, don't you think?_ Blu thought, before taking a bite from the same apple slice. "I don't know what you're talking about. It tastes fine to me," he got out with a full beak.

When they both had their fill, Jewel asked him, "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Hmm... I don't really know. I guess we could just go to Linda's house today, but I don't really know what we'd do there."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could go outside to get some fresh air. I could show you around Rio."

"No, Jewel," Blu firmly told her. "You need to stay here so that your wing can heal."

"But, Blu—"

"I said 'no', Jewel."

Jewel looked at the floor in defeat. "Okay... I understand."

_Great, what do I do?_ He didn't want to see her like this, especially after he'd already made her feel bad the night before.

After a long silence, Blu said, "Fine. I'll... I'll see what I can do."

Jewel looked up at him happily. "Thanks, Blu."

"Okay, but just... just wait here."

Blu flew out of the hollow and to the metal door and knocked a few times. Somebody opened it for him and he walked through. He flew over to Túlio who was, as usual, taking of a "patient." Before getting his attention, he grabbed the pencil next to him and a sticky note. He wrote down, "Jewel wants to go outside and get some fresh air, so can we?"

When it seemed that Túlio had finished, Blu squawked to get his attention. Túlio turned and saw the note. "No," he firmly said.

Blu took a moment to think. _Guess I have to go with plan B. I wish I'd never thought of that._ Blu added to the note, "Please? It might strengthen our relationship and" He wanted to die as he wrote the next part. "she may want to mate while we're out there."

Túlio read the added part and as his eyes opened up to realization. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead." Yep. Blu knew just how to manipulate him.

Back in the hollow, Jewel paced back and forth thinking, _Come on, Blu. Please say yes, please say yes._

Blu returned. He could feel that he was still blushing from what he had written on the note. "He said ye—" Before he could even pronounce the last letter. He was tackled to the floor by Jewel.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said as she hugged him hard, really hard.

Her hug and weight on his chest were making a double-blockade for air.

"Jewel... can't... breathe..."

"Oh! Sorry!" She got off.

When Blu had calmed his breathing, he said, "Okay, let's go."

He flew her down to the floor and they walked out of the still-open door.

They waited at the entrance/exit door to the Conservation Center for Túlio to let them out. He walked over to them with two small devices. They were small enough to fit on their legs without hindrance. "I'll need you two to wear these. They're GPS trackers so I'll know where you are."

He strapped one snuggly onto one of each of their legs. He opened the door and told Blu, "Good luck, Blu."

"Good luck with what?" Jewel asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Blu quickly said before taking to the skies.

...

"Beautiful isn't it?" Jewel asked.

"Yeah," he answered, amazed by the beauty.

Blu asked her, "So where do we go first?" He had to raise his voice to be heard over the wind.

Jewel put some thought into it. She wanted to go to the jungle, but they could do that later. "We should go to the Christ the Redeemer statue." Blu knew exactly what that was, based on the name.

He flew her to it and put her down gently on Jesus' head. "Yep, I remember this," she said, looking out at the ocean.

"What do you mean? You've been here before?"

"Yeah, I used to come here all the time when I was troubled or just to think."

'Troubled.' Jewel must have had a some good parents for her to still think about them after all these years. He felt bad for her, but strangely not himself. To be honest, he'd never really thought a lot about his parents. Considering he was probably only a few months old when he was captured. He didn't know the fate of his parents. But, he and Jewel are the last of the species, so he assumed the worst.

"Jewel. If... If you're not comfortable here, we can leave."

"Oh, no, no, no. You put a lot of effort into bringing me up here. I wouldn't want to waste that."

He and Jewel sat together on the statue's head for the next hour, enjoying each other's company. Every so often, they would find something to comment on.

* * *

><p>"You did WHAT?" Linda yelled into the phone's speaker<p>

"Listen, Linda. Blu told me Jewel wanted to go outside with him for a bit. They're wearing trackers. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well how long have they been gone?"

Túlio looked at his watch and hung up the phone. He left immediately in the Jeep.

* * *

><p>"So, how did you learn to read and write?" Jewel asked Blu.<p>

"Well, Linda was writing in her diary one day, and she noticed that I was watching her. She asked me if I wanted to learn and I agreed."

"How long did it take for you to learn?"

"It took me about two weeks to get the hang of it, but in a few months I could read short novels and write full paragraphs on my own. Of course, because of the language barrier Nico mentioned, I wasn't able to ask any questions until I had a good understanding."

"Do... Do you think you could teach me... since I'll be stuck there in the room for two weeks?" Well, this was the last thing Blu would ever expect Jewel to ask of him. He didn't know why, but her personality just didn't seem the kind that would accept learning.

"Uh, yeah sure. When do you want to start?"

"Tomorrow, I guess."

There was an awkward silence, since neither of them really knew how to transition out of this conversation. Blu decided to ignore flow. "So, do you want to go, now?"

"Yeah, let's go to the jungle."

Blu froze. The jungle? Why'd she have to pick there? As much as he really didn't want to go, he wanted to keep Jewel's spirits up, so he accepted.

...

They were now in the jungle. Blu decided to stay high in the trees to avoid any possible snakes on the ground. Jewel was directing him on where to go. Blu didn't know why she was so particular, but she was actually leading him to the area she used to live in.

"So where are we going, Jewel?"

"We're going to my old home," she simply said.

Blu stopped at the next tree. He looked at the ground, taking time to choose his next words wisely. "Look... Jewel... I... I don't think there's a point in going. You're parents won't be there..." He said the last part with regret.

"I... I know, Blu, but I just feel like I... I have to make sure, okay?" She looked at him. Her eyes seemed glossier than usual. With just one look, Blu decided not to argue over it.

"Okay, just tell me where to go."

Jewel led the way to the tree she used to call home. Blu let her off at the hole leading inside. Jewel slowly walked in and looked around. No one was there, like every other time she had come before. Blu heard her sniffle and walked in.

"Jewel? Are... are you alright?"

"There's still my friend's tree. Take me there," she commanded with tears in her eyes.

Blu complied and brought her to the tree she directed him to. They both walked in and saw that the hollow was empty except for a pile of twigs. The twigs were obviously from a really old nest as they were dry and broken. Seeing that nobody but them was in there, Jewel put her head on Blu's shoulder. "You're all I have left," she told him through her tears.

Blu hugged her for a few minutes to comfort her, but he finally said, "Come on, let's go home now."

"Okay."

Flying out of the hollow, Blu gave one look back over his shoulder toward the tree. It's nothing, just my imagination, he thought.

On their way out of the jungle, they came across Túlio (he was walking, not in he Jeep), who was perplexed as to why they both seemed sad. He decided to leave the couple alone, not wishing to make them relive the details.

Not much else really happened that day. Túlio brought them to Linda to prove to her that they were safe and sound. They started talking about Túlio's work like they had done the previous day. Blu and Jewel just talked some more to each other, sharing stories of various parts of their lives. Naturally, Blu was more open than Jewel. They also chatted with some other birds on Facebook. Many of Blu's friend congratulated Blu on finding himself a nice girl, but Blu insisted that they weren't together. Jewel didn't know what to think. Was it cute that he was shy about the subject, or should she be a little mad that he didn't consider them a couple? They all watched a few movies together, and Túlio didn't get back to the Conservation Center with Blu and Jewel until eight.

...

"Thanks for taking me out today," Jewel said to Blu as they lay down next to each other in the hollow.

"Oh, sure. No problem, Jewel."

"So you promise to start teaching me how to read and write tomorrow?"

"Of course. I don't really have anything else planned for the next twelve days."

She smiled. "Good night, Blu."

"Good night, Jewel," he said, smiling back.

**Yeah, not really my best work, I know. I've had this chapter ready for a few days and have been trying to think of ways to improve it, but honestly I just couldn't think of any necessary details to add.**

**To therobotchicken fan (I like that name): I like the idea. I will take it into consideration. (To your second comment) Well, obviously, you haven't read anything by Corration, the best author in the Rio Archive.**

**To Aninat131 and Lazy Reviewer (regarding the cute moments between Blu and Jewel): Yeah I guess that was the goal of chapter 3.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Wow, I'm surprised that I got a comment this long on only the third chapter. I'm glad you're enjoying it (this sentence applies to everyone else).**


	5. Teacher for the Teacher

**Seriously? 23 reviews in only 4 chapters? Man, am I glad I decided to proofread this. The translation from document to hear was ass, because all italicized bits were scrunched up without spaces, and I forgot to have Blu get the flower. I also went and fixed Túlio's name in chapter 4.**

Blu spent the next week and two days teaching Jewel how to read and write, seeing that there wasn't much else better to do. He was absolutely amazed by her progress. In just a week, she had learned and mastered what had taken him months. Maybe she was just really smart. Maybe it was because she was learning at an older age than he did. He didn't care. It only made her seem more attractive to him.

While Blu was busy admiring her intelligence, Jewel played it innocent, not bringing up eggs or anything related to mating. She just stood by and enjoyed Blu's company. But, something bothered Jewel: he seemed to get a little more jumpy each day, and she knew it wasn't because of her. His atmosphere wasn't of shyness, but rather of fear. She knew exactly why, but she needed to confront Blu about it.

"Blu? Is something bothering you?"

"W-What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine. Things couldn't be better."

Jewel stood silent for a moment. Though she spoke no words, the look on her light face said, "I don't believe you."

"Blu, you're a terrible liar. Please tell me. I don't want any secrets between us."

"Jewel, I'm not trying to hide anything from you. I promise," he lied.

Jewel gave a long sigh. "I know you're lying. The night of the day you saved me, I heard you talking in your sleep."

Blu gulped. "W-Was I? W-W-What was I saying?"

"You were mumbling about kids," Blu's eye twitched. "the jungle, and protecting me." Blu's emotions were now at odds with each other. On one hand, he was afraid to talk about what was bugging him. On the other, he was embarrassed for talking about her in his sleep.

Blu sighed. "You really wanna know the truth?" Jewel nodded. "Fine, I'll tell you. In a few days, we're gonna be released into the wild. It's big and dangerous out there. I've practically never lived out there before. I don't know what to do. I'm just scared, okay?" He raised his voice on the last sentence.

Jewel walked up to him and gave him a hug. Still in the hug, she asked him, "Is that the truth?" She could feel his body trembling.

"Yeah," he said sadly.

"Is there any way that I can help?"

Blu pulled out of the hug. "Not in your condition."

"Thanks for caring, Blu. Maybe you could ask Raphael for help."

"Actually, I'd rather not go near his home. Remember that encounter we had with his kids?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "How about Nico and Pedro?"

"I wouldn't take their advice even if my life depended on it, which it does."

Jewel giggled. "Yeah, I thought so. But, I still want you to at least go out there for a bit and familiarize yourself with the jungle. You've already been out there twice."

"I guess you're right, Jewel. I'll... I'll go tomorrow. I want you to stay here, though. What are you going to do?"

"I guess I'll just practice writing a bit and chat on Facebook."

"That sounds good," he said as he looked out the window. "It's getting late. I'd better get to sleep. I have a long day tomorrow."

"I'll join you."

They both walked to their new sleeping spot and fell asleep.

...

The two woke up peacefully the next morning. They got their breakfast from Túlio, as usual, and immediately went back to the hollow to briefly discuss their plan.

"Okay, so while you're out there, I want you to bring back something to me, so that I know you actually went."

"Jewel, do I really have to do this?" he asked her, trying to get out of it.

"Yes, Blu. Would you rather have more or less experience?"

"Okay." _Well, __I __tried._

_..._

They'd already told Túlio about what Blu was doing, so he opened the door for him when they came to the exit. With a hug, Jewel wished him good luck. He nodded and flew off. _I __hope __he__'__ll __be __okay. __Come __back __soon, __Blu._

Blu landed on the branch of a tree at the edge of the jungle to think. _Well, __I__'__m __here, __now._"Maybe I can just go in quickly, get a flower, then leave. No, no. I have to get used to the jungle. Be strong for Jewel."

"Ya know, I don't think it's healthy to talk to yourself."

Blu's heart skipped a beat at the voice. It was feminine and unfamiliar to him. He looked right and saw a female scarlet macaw smiling at him from about a foot away. She was about his height. Her feathers were made of a marvelous array of colors. She even had an unusual amount of green where her blue and yellow feathers met.

"H-how long have you been standing there?"

"Since the 'flower' part. So, who's it for?"

"Just a friend."

"You're _girl_friend, right?"

"What? No, no, no. I'm just supposed to bring her something back from the jungle."

"May I ask why?"

"Well, I've lived a domesticated life for fifteen years, and suddenly, I'm being sent out into the jungle in a few days... I'm scared..." Tears started to well up in his eyes. "I-I don't know what's going to happen when we're out here. We're the last of our kind. Some ornithologists want us to mate, but I don't know if she wants to be with me. She's a very freedom-minded bird." Tears were running down his cheeks as he hiccuped in between sentences.

The scarlet macaw stared at Blu for a few seconds, giving him time to calm down. "That doesn't explain why you're out here, though."

Blu wiped a tear from his eye. Still looking away from her, he said, "She wanted me to get used to the feel of the jungle, familiarize myself with it."

She paused for a moment and suddenly asked, "You love her, don't you?"

Blu quickly turned his head to her. He looked back down at the ground and nodded. Strange that he could admit this to a total stranger, but not to any of his friends or Jewel herself.

"Well, that should be enough of a reason for you to try, right?"

Bllu looked back at her. "What do you mean?"

"Look, if you really love her, then you need to be strong for her, like you said." Blu blushed, because she heard that part, too. "I'll even help you, if you'd like. I could teach you how to survive out here"

"No, that's okay. I wouldn't want to be a burden to you."

"It's okay, I can take a break from trying to find a mate."

"Okay... Thanks. Sorry, but I didn't get your name. I'm Blu."

"Call me Scarla." With that, they both flew into the forest to begin Blu's lesson.

* * *

><p>Jewel was on Túlio's laptop exercising her typing skills. Blu had made her an email and Facebook account for that purpose. She was currently chatting with some of Blu's female friends about Blu's interests. She gave them permission to correct her on her spelling if needed. Many of her friends were just as surprised as Blu when they realized her progress after just a week and couldn't find anything to correct.<p>

Ashley: So, have you two actually gone out yet?

Her friends typed formally, so she could understand easier.

Jewel: Depends on how you look at it. He took me to the Christ the Redeemer statue. Some events in the forest—NO, IT'S NOT THAT—kind of made it feel like less of a date, though.

Sunny: Do you two have any plans to get busy? Know what I mean?

Jewel blushed. Jewel: Well, I would, but I'm not entirely sure if Blu wants to.

Sunny: Have you tried dropping hints?

Jewel: Yeah, but it was more like I joked about it. He kinda takes me seriously (kinda, because he can't seem to tell if I'm serious), and he seems hesitant on the idea.

Ashley: Well, that's kind of odd. Most guys would be willing to mate with someone as beautiful as you. That should change in about a week or two. ;

Jewel: What's "; "?

Ashley: It's a wink.

Jewel: Why'd you put that in there?

Ashley: ... You don't get what I'm saying? Well...

Sunny: When a female loves a male, she will randomly, usually once a year, get in heat. You will become drunk with a desire to mate with Blu and will stop at nothing to satisfy it. You won't remember any of the things you do, though. You want to remember your first time, right? Most males enjoy this time, but knowing Blu, he'll be very hard to crack. Tell me, have you had any "thoughts"?

Jewel: Sort of, but I haven't told anybody.

Ashley: Well, there's a sign already. I suggest you tell Blu to turn you down no matter what. Like Sunny said, you want to remember your first time, right?

Jewel gave it some thought. On one hand, she could mate with Blu sooner. On the other, she could wait and cherish the memory.

Jewel: I'll be sure to do that, but when we're released.

Ashley: That's kinda risky, but okay.

* * *

><p>Back in the jungle, Scarla served as Blu's mentor to jungle survival. They'd spent the past few hours going over ripe and unripe fruit. Blu was starting to get the hang of it all, which he realized when Scarla quizzed him. He started to feel more confident each time he answered correctly. She showed him the various rivers and streams in which he could bathe, and showed him the various nuts that were available to eat in the jungle.<p>

They were now at the tree they met on. "See, Blu? It's not that bad, is it?"

"No, I guess not," he said. His tone of voice gave away that he still wasn't entirely sure about living in the jungle.

"Hey, cheer up. You can come every day until you're released, and I can continue teaching you. Oh, and bring your ma—" She cut herself off when she saw Blu's glare. "You should bring Jewel to my tree when she's better. I'd love to meet her."

"Sure, I'll do that. When I do, could you not—"

"I know. I won't tell her."

Blu smiled and said, "Thanks."

"Blu, you really need to stop worrying about that. Based off what you told me, there's not a doubt in my mind that she reciprocates your feelings for her. You saved her, allowed her to open up more, taught her how to read, and heck, you took a bath together. Most couples don't even do that, because their to embarrassed."

Blu blushed. "Yeah, well she needed help, so I gave it to her... Are... Are you sure she likes me back?"

"Loves, Blu. She _loves_ you back."

"You're sure?"

"Trust me," she said, putting a wing on his shoulder. "You're a nice bird. Not that I'm hitting on you, but if I was Jewel, I'd probably want to be with you."

Blu couldn't help but blush at that statement. "Thanks for all the help today. So I guess I'll be seeing you around?"

"You know where to find me. See ya."

Blu began to fly back home, but not before picking a pink lily from the ground. "But don't expect my help when she's in heat," Scarla muttered, as if she was still talking to Blu.

...

"So how did it go?" Jewel excitedly asked Blu as they got back in their tree.

"It went pretty well. I immediately found somebody I could ask for help."

"Oh really? Who?"

"A scarlet macaw named Scarla. It's a pretty easy name to remember. She took me around the jungle and showed me all the different things there were to eat."

She, huh? Whatever, she's a different type of macaw. "Well, that's good, Blu."

"So, what did you do all day?"

"I chatted with Ashley and Sunny on Facebook."

"What about?"

"Oh the usual." She thought it best to keep that private between herself and those two. "I got kind of lonely, though, without you here."

"Heh heh. Do you mind if I go out again for some extra learning tomorrow?"

"Not at all. The more the better. Thanks for the flower today. You won't have to bring anything back tomorrow.

Blu gave a long yawn. "Let's call it a day," he said as he lied down.

Jewel lied down next to him. They wished each other good night and closed their eyes. Jewel didn't hear Blu when he mumbled, "Just three more days."

**To therobotchicken fan: Sorry, but I'll probably never use the skateboarding story idea in this. It just seems kind of unnecessary. As for the Alice and Chloe idea, I know that everybody hates filler (I'm looking at you, Baka to Test to Shokanjuu Ni!, the filler series of anime.), but I think I may have an idea for that. Just one question, they're opposite genders, right? Chloe (rather the one I think is Chloe) sounds like a guy, but the Rio wiki says they're both female. If that's true, my idea is immediately thrown out the window. No, there was no mating in my idea. My idea of Blu's past conflicts with yours, sorry.**

**To OmarBarria: Whether or not the question will be answered depends upon the question being asked.**

**To Ghostofinu: Glad to hear it. I love your story "Tested Love". I wanted to cry for Blu multiple times in that story. I still have to read the sequels.**

**To NoRemorse81: "Funny"? If anything, I think it would be more romantic. For future reference, people, if I come across as a jerk, it's probably just late at night. If I were to say that in person, I'd sound more playful than assholish.**

**To Sierra strike: What do you mean by it's "unified"? (to second comment) I totally see where you're coming from in calling chapter four flat.**

**To C.A.M.z: I kind of addressed that in this chapter when Jewel is chatting on Facebook. "and on how jewel reacted" What do you mean? Which part?**

**To CJFANG: Does it really stand out? Thanks! I'm also surprised that nobody has done preening in their story yet.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: I thought as much.**

**To The son of The Scarlet Macaw:**

**1. How so?**

**2. I totally get it, but my next fic, assuming it ever gets conceived, will be more original.**

**3. lol**

**4. I don't let any author's stories influence my own. (to second part) Do you really think so? For me, I think it's a good, though rather adult, followup to the movie. He's only written like three sex scenes between them (okay, so maybe that is a bit). Two of them weren't even full on, either. The only really detailed one was in "Is it the End?", and I think that the circumstances were rather legitimate.**

**5. "... original ideas aren't always the best. They are sometimes way out there..." You mean like WolfonFyre's? In case he happens to read this, I apologize. You tell me to get more original ideas and get more creative, yet you suggest two ideas that have already been taken?**


	6. Watch Your Back

"Bye, Blu," Jewel said.

"See ya soon," Blu said back before flying off.

Blu had decided to go back to the jungle to get some extra education in jungle survival from Scarla, just in case there was anything he'd missed. Blu's absence all day had left Jewel feeling somewhat lonely the day before and had the same effect on her today, but at least she had Ashley and Sunny to talk to.

...

Blu just caught Scarla on her way out of her hollow.

"Scarla, wait!" he yelled to catch her attention.

Scarla turned around and saw Blu flying toward her. "Oh, hey, Blu," she greeted. "Back for more lessons?"

Blu panted from the rush to reach her tree before she left. "Y-yeah."

"Good, then you can choose my breakfast. Think of it as a practical test."

"Okay," he agreed nervously. What if he chose a bad fruit?

Blu led her to a papaya tree. "Okay, Blu, so which one do you think is good?"

Blu darted his eyes around to find a papaya that fit the qualities Scarla had told him to look for. There were no suitable papayas on the side they were on, so he flew to the other side for a look.

"Over here!" he called as he found the perfect papaya. It was green with an orange tan to it.

Scarla flew over next to him to examine his finding. "Yep, this one looks good." She proceeded to grab the papaya with her talons and clipped the stem with her beak.

"Come on, let's take this back to my hollow."

They flew back to Scarla's hollow, which wasn't too far from where they were.

"So tell me how things are going between you and Jewel," Scarla said after hastily tearing into the papaya.

"Uh, pretty good I guess." He failed to hide his tone from Scarla.

"You're still not entirely sure about her, huh?"

"Um, well—"

"Geez, I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd give love advice to a male," Scarla mumbled before saying, "Blu, why do you doubt her love?"

"Well, why would she love me? She's a beautiful, freedom-loving bird, and I'm just some domesticated pet. I can't protect her."

_Wow, __this __guy __is __dense._"You know, Blu, for someone with so much intelligence, you're really clueless aren't you? You _need _to stay with her. Like you told me, you're all she has left."

"So, you're saying she loves me because I'm the only one she can?" Blu asked condescendingly. Those weren't really the best choice of words from Scarla.

"No, Blu. She had nobody before meeting you. _You_ give _her _hope. You're a sweet, caring bird. She loves you for you!"

Blu moved back in fear as she raised her voice at him, trying to accentuate her point. There was a long silence. Finally, he asked, "Do you really think so?"

"Why don't you just ask her yourself?"

Blu gave it some thought. He could try, but his shyness around Jewel would make it difficult. "I will, but when I think the time is right."

Scarla smiled at him. "Good," she said as she turned toward the hollow entrance. "Now let's go, we have a lesson together."

They flew out of the hollow for Blu's second lesson.

...

The two-hour lesson flew right by without them noticing. Now, Scarla and Blu were walking side by side on the forest floor. Scarla was trying to alleviate Blu's fear of being on the ground, where he was most vulnerable. Blu seemed much more comfortable now. He could easily talk to her without flinching at every snapping twig or looking around every few seconds.

"So, tell me more about Jewel. Is she pretty?" Scarla inquired.

"Oh, you have no idea. She's the most beautiful bird I've ever met." Blu could compliment Jewel easily, so long as she wasn't right next to him.

"But that's not why you love her, right?"

"Oh no, of course not. It's... It's kind of hard to explain. You see—" Blu's eyes widened as they noticed a huge, familiar-looking rock.

As Blu stopped walking, Scarla asked, "What is it Blu?"

Blu threw a wing over her beak. "Shh. We have to get out of here."

"Why?" she asked in a whisper, complying to the implied demand.

"Because I think a friend of mine lives in that hollow," he quickly answered, pointing up at a nearby tree. "And he has seventeen crazy kids."

"Oh come, they can't be that bad."

"Trust me, they are. Now just follow me and we'll be fine." As he said this, he turned around to walk back from where they came. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the stick behind himself. He stepped on it. His heart skipped a beat at the cracking noise at the cracking noise that emanated from beneath his foot. _I__'__m __dead._

Ruffling came from the bushes to their left. Blu looked at them apprehensively. Two adorable toucan chicks popped out of them and flew over to Scarla and Blu. Scarla was the first to pick one up.

"Aaaaw. How precious," Scarla said, unknowing of what they were capable of. She was very motherly, kind of like how Jewel was when she met these same two kids.

"And you said these kids were crazy. Come on, Blu. Pick one up."

Blu stared at the chick grabbing his wing and cutely jumping up and down, begging to be held. As crazy as he knew these kids were, he eventually gave in to the cuteness and picked him up. He looked over at Scarla who smirked. "See? They're not so—" At that instant, the chick she was holding tore a few feathers from her chest. She yelped in pain and managed to throw the chick back into the bushes. A second later, the entire army of Rafael's chicks came charging out of the bushes. Half of them went after Scarla while they other went for Blu, who during this time, had just started to run around thrashing about to get the chick off of him. The chicks continued to attack them for about ten seconds before Rafael poked his head out of his head out of his hollow.

"Hey, what's with all the noi—? Blu, is that you?" He jumped out of the hollow. "Okay, kids get off of them, before I call your mother!" With that, the kids immediately darted in seventeen directions to avoid punishment. Rafael walked over to Blu and helped him up. "Yep. That's the secret: Throw the threat in with the command. Amigo, I haven't seen you in forever. Who's this? Where's Jewel?"

Blu helped Scarla up to her feet and said, "Jewel's healing back in the Conservation Center. This is Scarla. She's teaching me how to survive in the jungle. I think I'm actually getting the hang of things." Scarla smiled at this. It was about time Blu admitted that he was more comfortable. Blu continued. "Scarla, this is Rafael. So, Rafael, did that last egg of yours hatch?"

"Oh, it sure did. Follow me." He led them up to his hollow. Rafael remembered and realized that Blu could now fly, so he said, "So Nico and Pedro were right. You can fly. How'd you learn?"

Blu blushed at the memory. "W-Well, I um... Jewel kissed me when I jumped out of that plane we were in."

"I knew it! You have kissed!" Scarla accidentally blurted out. Blu ignored her. He didn't know how to explain his reason for lying to her.

They walked into Rafael's hollow. "Yep, there's my eighteenth little angel *cough* and Eva."

Eva was sleeping soundly with her youngest chick, keeping it warm. If one had not known what a baby was, they'ed think the chick was hideous, but it's small size instantly made it cute.

"So is it a boy or girl?" Blu asked.

"A girl. Turns out I was wrong about the gender."

"What's her name?" Scarla asked.

"Maria."

"That's a beautiful name," she said.

"Yep. Oh, Blu there's something I need to talk to you about. Do you mind waiting here, Scarla?" Rafael requested.

"Sure."

Rafael led Blu out of and around to the base of the tree. After making sure Scarla hadn't followed them, he began. "Okay, so it's about Jewel. Has she showed signs of wanting to mate?"

Blu felt his face heat up."W-W-Well, she's hinted at it once or twice, but she was just joking."

"I think there's more to it than that. You probably don't know this, but Jewel will probably try to mate with you sometime after you're released."

Blu blushed harder. "What? Why?"

"I don't know, it's just a once a year thing, but just know that she'll do everything she can to get what she wants. Now matter what, you need to turn her down."

"O-Okay. That's easy. I don't really want to mate with her anyway."

Rafael's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh really? But still, resist no matter what." Blu nodded.

"But why can't Scarla hear this?" Blu asked.

"Because. She's a female. They tend to stick together on this sort of thing. I would know."

"Right, so just say no, and that's it?"

"Yep."

The duo flew back into the hollow. Apparently, Scarla had been standing there the whole time waiting for them. Eva and Sofia hadn't woken up yet.

"So what did you two talk about?" Scarla asked.

"Nothing, nothing. Just something between us guys." Blu answered. "You ready to go?"

"Sure, I'm getting kinda hungry, anyway," she said, rubbing her stomach.

"Okay, see ya soon, I guess."

"See ya," Rafael said back.

Scarla and Blu took off.

...

Back at the Conservation Center, Blu was greeted by Jewel, who was glad to have him back in her presence. Seeing as how it was only 2:30pm, Blu decided to give Jewel some extra reading lessons and watched a movie with her on Túlio's laptop. The went to sleep together, as usual, peacefully. Jewel noticed Blu smiling in his sleep. It was actually the first time she had seen him do that. Maybe he was dreaming about her. Jewel smiled at the thought. _Thank __you, __Scarla,_ she thought.

_Two __more __days._

**It's a disappointingly short chapter, I know, but the two weeks is really wearing itself thin. I'm running out of ideas (not that I had many in the first place), but I have a convenient solution to the problem. Don't expect an update for a week or two.**

**WHAT THE HELL? THIRTEEN REVIEWS?**

**To therobotchicken fan: Yeah, I thought this fic could use an OC, just for the sake of originality. Well Blu was just a baby. His parents did everything for him. He never had to actually make use of his instincts. So Alice and Chloe are both female? I guess the names should have given it away, but Chloe's (I think it's her) voice gave me a tiny shred of hope. That kills my idea completely, but it's not entirely impossible for them to appear. It's just that if I put them in, the idea I have now would be to similar to that of another author. My original idea was to have Alice and Chloe to get together.**

**To The son of The Scarlet Macaw: Oh, okay. By the way, I got your PM. I was able to read it one day, but I think two days later, I got around to reading your fic. I wanted to give my feedback, but I wasn't allowed to by the website. I went to reply to the message, but I was also not allowed to. Don't know what's going on there...**

**To therobotchicken fan (again?): Yeah, I did. It was pretty good.**

**To therobotchicken fan (wtf?): No, I didn't. I just automatically assumed it was spelled that way. I'll go back and fix that.**

**To C.A.M.z: . Don't expect to see my next fic for some time. Maybe during the holiday. I'll have PLENTY of time to write then. Seriously, you did? I thought that it was worse to be late in the Philipines than in the states.**

**To WolfOnFyre: (Woops) Glad to hear I made your day. Thanks for the compliments. "Talented": Only when I write for leisure. Thanks. I apologized, because I suggested that your ideas were "out there." I think the context of what I said may have suggested that I thought your ideas are bad. I need to learn to word things more carefully. I like your story "Hanging By a Thread."**

**To Ghostofinu: Well, I'll get to the sequels after Tennis ends (Just one more day, woohoo!) and once this damn Language Arts project passes over.**

**To OmarBarria: two words: blatant foreshadowing.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: I realize that they both have actresses, but that doesn't mean that one could've been male. That's how it works in anime. On the contraire (spelling?), it does. My idea was to get Chloe and Alice together as a sort of subplotish/sidestory/filler thing.**

**To Corration: Glad to hear that my simplicity doesn't ruin it for you. My mentality (for lack of a better word) is that big words that nobody ever uses distract the reader from the story by making them have to think about the word.**

**To to Lazy Reviewer (that is not a typo): ...**

**To therobotchicken fan (PFFT lol): Already on it, minus the mating.**

**To Lunyk: Thanks, but I wouldn't call this "phenomonal," but if you want to keep giving compliments, go right ahead.**

**To SmartA55esUnite (even though he didn't comment): You changed you name AGAIN?**

**Seriously, what the hell? Why can't I get this sort of praise in language arts?**


	7. Convenience and Confession

**What the hell, ? I typed in the title of my story word for word into the search bar and it's not even on the first page of results.**

**Okay, so I went back and watched the part where Blu and Jewel meet Rafael, and it turns out that one of the chicks is already called Sofia, so I changed the name to Maria.**

**Also, I went back to chapter 5, and apparently, the greater than and less than symbols don't appear when the chapter is uploaded. The greater than symbol was supposed to be the beak as the semicolon was the eyes.**

**Another thing: I realize that I've totally forgotten to put Fernando in somewhere, but it's too late to just throw him in there. I'll think of something...**

**One more thing. I changed Chapter 4's title (First Date), because it was bothering the hell out of me.**

Blu and Jewel stood on the floor of the breeding room eating yet another mango.

"So are you going to go out today?" Jewel asked Blu.

"Nah, I think I have enough knowledge of the jungle now," Blu answered.

Jewel smiled; she could have him to herself the whole day. "Good. It's not as bad as you thought, right?"

"Not at all."

"Blu, could I ask you a favor?" she suddenly asked.

"Sure, Jewel. Anything."

"Could you ask Túlio about my wing?"

Blu found himself perplexed by the question. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"He could have been wrong about the time it would take to heal. I was wondering if maybe I could get out by tomorrow."

Blu didn't really think that there was that big a difference between tomorrow and the day after, but he agreed to it. "Okay, follow me." They walked to and out of the metal bird door which had been left open to them. Now in the treatment room, Blu flew Jewel up onto Túlio's work station. He was currently on the phone.

"Okay, so it's ready to open, right?... Good. Thank You." Túlio hung up and jumped when he saw Blu and Jewel next to him. "Oh, uh... Hi, Blu and Jewel. What do you need? More mango?" Blu shook his head. He grabbed Jewel's wing and held it up.

Túlio immediately understood. "It should be fully healed in two days. You'll be released the day after." This wasn't quite the message Blu wanted to get across, so he went for a paper and pencil.

Upon returning with said items, he wrote, "Is there any possibility of Jewel's wing being healed today?"

Túlio was surprised by the question. There isn't a big difference between today and tomorrow. He gave it some thought. "Well, I guess. I can check the wing if you want me to, but I can't guarantee anything." To this, Blu and Jewel squawked happily.

Túlio picked up Jewel and carried her into the X-Ray room. Blu stayed behind on the counter, knowing he wasn't supposed to be around an X-Rays unless he needed to be.

He thought about what Rafael told him the day before. _There__'__s __no __way __that __she __would __chase __after __me.__But __in __the __unlikely __event __that __she __does, __I __have __to __be __ready. __I __can __get __the __others __to __help __me! _He thought about Rafael telling him that females stick together. _That__'__s __ridiculous. __Scarla __wouldn__'__t __help __Jewel __in __that __sort __of __thing._

He stared at the door for five minutes before Túlio came back out with Jewel. She seemed really happy, evident by the big smile on her face. She was turned to the side, as if to hide her wing from Blu. When Túlio reached the counter, he set Jewel on the counter still facing left.

"Jewel, why are you facing that way?" he asked while looking right to see what he was missing. Seeing nothing of interest, he looked back at her.

She looked at him and slowly turned her body. To Blu's total surprise, her left wing was ridden of the cast; she was free. To him, she was much more beautiful without the cast, which was pretty much what anybody would think. Her wing just needed some cleaning up. It looked asymmetric to the other.

"Surprise!" she exclaimed.

Blu didn't even really know how to react. He wasn't prepared, as he didn't think she would be right about Túlio being wrong. "Wow, Jewel! That's great! You were right! When do you—we—get released?" On the last sentence, he tried to sound excited for her.

"Well... I still have to wait until tomorrow. I would've had to wait a day after getting it off either way. I'm also not allowed to fly yet. He just took the cast off so I could stretch it out." She sounded disappointed in the delay of her freedom.

"At least it's still one day early, right?" Blu asked.

"Yeah." She smiled, and Blu blushed.

"Wanna go to Linda's again?"

"That sounds good," she answered. "But could you fix the feathers on this wing?" She lifted her left wing.

Blu blushed more at the thought of bathing with Jewel again. "O-Okay. Sure, Jewel." He flew her into the breeding room.

...

They walked out from the breeding room and went to Túlio. Blu asked on a sheet of paper if he could bring her to Linda's one last time. Túlio agreed and let them out.

...

They eventually arrived at the window of Linda's hotel room. Blu tapped hard on it, still carrying Jewel. Linda quickly came up to it, happy to see them, and let them in.

"Hi, Blu. It's been a while since I've seen you," she said during their handshake.

Finishing up the handshake, Blu squawked.

"Hi, Jewel. Thanks for coming too. I heard the good news from Túlio," Linda greeted, stroking Jewel's head. Jewel found that she enjoyed the feeling. "Hey, Blu. I know it's not cold, but would you like some hot chocolate?" she offered. Blu squawked happily at the offer.

Linda went to the kitchen to prepare the drink. Jewel asked, "What's hot chocolate."

"Only the best drink ever. Well. I guess, if it's cold. Would you like to try some of mine?"

Jewel blushed. "That sounds good."

Linda returned three minutes later with a mug of hot chocolate and six marshmallows.

Jewel looked into the brown liquid. "It looks gross, but it" —she sniffed— "smells good."

"It tastes even better," Blu told her. "Try it."

Jewel tilted the mug by grabbing the handle with her foot and took a sip. Blu was right. What was supposed to be a quick sip turned into one, giant one. By the time she had finished, she had drunk half the mug.

"I see that you like it."

"Yep, it was," —she gasped for air— "really good."

"See what'd I tell ya?" he said smugly. He took his long sip.

When finished, he asked her "What now?"

"How about we watch a few movies together to kill the rest of the day? There's a TV with a DVD player right there." Jewel gestured toward said TV.

"Hmm, that sounds fun." He opened a leather DVD case next to Linda's laptop. They had brought it to Rio just in case things didn't work out between Blu and Jewel. He thought. Assuming that the average movie length is an hour and a half, they had time for six or seven movies. It didn't sound very healthy, but honestly, what else could they do?

"So what do you want to watch first?" he asked, flipping through the pages of the case.

Jewel carefully scanned each page for something interesting. Something caught her eye. One disc showed a picture of a rather pale teenager holding an emotionless girl. It read, "Twilight." "How about this one?" she suggested.

Blu began laughing really hard at her decision. Jewel felt offended. "Hey! What's so funny, Blu?"

Blu got up, wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm sorry, Jewel. It's just that that movie is horrible. I got that for the sole purpose of making fun of it."

Jewel felt less offended. "Well then, we should watch it. I could go for a good laugh."

Blu suggested something. "Well, it wouldn't be complete without these two." He pointed at "New Moon" and "Eclipse." "I plan on getting that last one whenever that comes out... Well, we can watch three other movies. Pick whatever you want."

Jewel chose "Toy Story" parts one through three. It interested her that the plot didn't seem to revolve around humans.

...

They spent the next many hours—again, not healthy—watching the six movies chosen as they sat together on the couch. They had a really good time making fun of every aspect of Twilight, like how the vampires sparkle and aren't frightening whatsoever. They also had fun watching the Toy Story movies, but not quite as much. Jewel noticed Blu wipe his eyes whenever a sad part came up.

By the time they finished watching, it was already really dark outside, around tenish. LInda had called Túlio, telling him that Blu and Jewel would stay with her for the night. Blu and Jewel found that neither one of them was tired, so they just talked about the forest some more. Thanks to Scarla, Blu was more comfortable talking about the forest now.

Jewel was happy for him. She was also happy for herself, to have met him. She needed to tell him. She had wanted him to say it first, but she couldn't wait any longer. She had to get a certain three words off her chest, but how?

"Hey, Blu?" she said unsurely.

"Yeah, Jewel?"

"When you first saw me, what was the first thing you thought?" She wanted a compliment first.

"W-What do you mean?"

She moved closer. "The very first time you saw me, before I attacked you. Be honest. You had to be thinking something if you were staring at me like that."

"W-Well I... I... Um..." He couldn't say it loud so he looked away from her and mumbled, "Angel."

"What? 'Angel?' She blushed.

Still looking away, Blu slightly nodded.

"Blu, could you look at me for a second?" Jewel requested.

Blu did as she asked, but was unexpectedly met by a kiss full on the beak. It was just as good as the first time. Just like the first time, his eyes rolled back and closed from the pleasure. He fell back on the couch as Jewel fell forward on top of him.

Though it was a perfect opportunity, Jewel had no intention of mating here. She'd save it for the forest.

After a few seconds, Jewel backed out from the kiss. She stared into Blu's deep, brown eyes, which were wide open from shock. There was nothing but silence.

Finally, she said, "I love you, Blu." Blu's entire body twitched at the four words. She felt his heart rate increase to an all-time high against her chest.

_Scarla __was __right, _Blu thought. Suddenly, her words rang through his head. 'Why don't you ask her for yourself?' "Why?" he asked her.

Jewel smiled. "You know that's a dumb question, right?" It really was. "You're such a sweet, caring bird, the sweetest bird I've ever met. The past two weeks have been the best of my life. When I thought I had nobody, you showed up, and you've helped me get through the two weeks as my wing healed. You're what kept me going through it all." Scarla had pretty much hit the head of the nail.

Jewel rested her head on Blu's chest. "Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?"

"Of course not. G-Go right a-ahead." He was blushing incredibly hard at the moment.

He watched her fall asleep. When he was sure she was asleep, he wrapped his wings around her to keep her warm and close to him.

**That damned Language Arts project is finally over and I finished just in time; damn me and my habit of blowing things off! I thought I'd celebrate with a new chapter.**

**To OmarBarria: Nah, I don't think so. He's just denying the fact that he really likes Jewel. Like chapter 5 says, Scarla's the only one he's been able to admit this to. Deep down, he does want to mate with Jewel, but he just doesn't know it yet.**

**To C.A.M.z: Oh, that actually makes sense. I may just be convincing myself of this, but my dad said something about working in the fields. I don't know. I won't ever disable anonymous messaging. What reason do I have to do so. Don't expect the next fic for a while.**

**To Rarelygood: If the poison doesn't take effect until I die of old age, I'm not to concerned. lol**

**To Lazy Reviewer: With the knowledge that they are the same gender, I have no idea what to do with them. I'll ponder ideas.**

**To therobotchicken fan: I'm disappointed that you didn't say "LOVE IT," but it's cool. I also can't imagine Blu getting back at somebody unless they really pissed him off. He only joked about that.**

**To Lunyk: No, he's still much closer to Jewel. He's only been with Scarla for two days. To be perfectly honest, before you even mentioned that, I may have considered a similar idea for a second, but rejected it.**

**To therobotchicken fan: Just imagine that Scarla taught him that. I don't find that very important, because there's no reason for it in the plot I've thought out.**

**To therobotchicken fan again ("again" is actually in the name): I know. Not to sound like a douche, but could you and everybody else who reads this refrain from double posting, especially ever chapter? Thank you.**

**To Zero2o1o: Oh he knows, alright; he just doesn't know what she'll do for that special night.**

**To SolarRuby17: Come on, man. Give it a chance. According to your comment, you didn't even finish the first chapter. Then again, reading the whole thing probably won't change what you think, but, hey, it's you're opinion. I won't argue. Yeah, with the setting, it's hard to be original. I just try to think of things that others haven't done and toss it in somehow. "As a writer more in my caliber..." How good are you? I hope to out-do him too, but I'm no writer, so that's not likely to happen.**

**To SolarRuby17: There's no need for an argument between them. He's only been with Scarla for two days.**

**To Zero2o1o: Blu just doesn't know what lengths she'll go to. I'm not implying that she'll do anything incredibly rash. That's gonna be a long chapter.**


	8. Freedom

Blu half-opened his eyes. It was bright outside, evident by all the sunlight in the room, but the back rest of the couch formed a convenient shade from the sun. He looked at a clock near the TV; it was 8:23, not that it really mattered too much to him. He looked at Jewel, who was still on top of him, wrapped in his wings. Blu blushed and looked up at the ceiling. _Did __that __really __happen __last __night?_ he asked himself. _She__'__s __on __top __of __me, __but __still._ He smiled at the memory of her confession to him. _I __guess __Túlio __will __get __what __he __wanted..._—he dropped his smile—_But... __am __I __really __ready __for __that? __Do __I __want __kids __right __now? _The answer to both questions was 'no.' _Now __I__'__m __actually __worried __about __what __Rafael __told __me._He looked back at Jewel. _Wow,_ was all he could think of the image of this beautiful bird sleeping on him. He had a strange urge to stroke her head feathers. She was asleep; she wouldn't mind—not that she would even if she was awake. He satisfied the urge, but felt himself going much longer than expected. Jewel giggled unexpectedly. Had Blu been standing, he would've jumped normally, but since he was lying down, he performed some kind of horizontal jump.

"Having fun, Blu?" she asked teasingly.

Blu remained silent.

"Don't pretend you're asleep," she said, turning her head to him. Blu wanted to argue that he wasn't, but got lost in her beautiful eyes. He was completely unaware of his dreamy expression.

"Blu. Blu!" Jewel yelled. Blu snapped out of his trance. "You're looking at me weird."

Blu blushed from embarrassment. "Sorry."

Jewel smiled. "I forgive you," she said as she started to lower her face to his.

Suddenly, Linda's voice came from Blu's left—Jewel's right. "Don't tell me you two did it on the couch."

The two lovebirds quickly turned in the direction of her voice and saw Linda standing in the doorway of her room. Blu, with a red face, threw Jewel off of him. She landed on her back. She sat up and glared at Blu's apologetic expression.

Linda couldn't help but laugh at what she had just witnessed: Jewel laying on top of Blu, about to kiss him. Then suddenly, he just throws her off.

"So what do you want, Blu? Cereal?" Linda asked him. Blu squawked shyly. Linda left them to get it ready.

Blu looked back to Jewel. "S-Sorry about that," he said to the cushion of the couch.

Jewel sighed. "It's okay, Blu... So what's cereal?"

Blu looked up. "It's a common food that humans eat in the morning, in America at least. I'm not sure about other countries. Do you want to try some?"

"Sure. I'm afraid the mangoes are spoiling me. Could you carry me to that table?"

This request surprised Blu. "You don't want to fly? You know you're allowed to, right?"

"I know, Blu, but I want to wait until I'm actually free to do that."

Blu flew her to the table and set her down. Linda had put a bowl of cereal on the table while they were talking. It was a small bowl; as birds, they didn't have to eat nearly as much as humans.

Jewel ate maybe five pieces of Fruit Loops before she stopped to stare at Blu.

"Hey, Blu," she said, trying to get his attention.

"Mm-hmm?" was all he could say, as his mouth was full.

"I... I was wondering if... when we're out there... could we get some... privacy?" Boy, did she pick a bad time to ask that. The moment she said "privacy" also happened to be the moment Blu swallowed. Under normal circumstances, Blu would've tried to stutter out an excuse to not do so. However, the fact that he was choking on cereal prevented him from worrying about that.

He put his wings over his throat to signal that he was choking, not that it wasn't obvious.

"Oh no! Blu!" Jewel ran around to his back and wrapped her wings around his stomach. She proceeded to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him. Though she was strong, she wasn't very professional, as she kept lifting Blu off his feet.

Blu didn't know what was worse, the pain of not being able to breathe or that of Jewel forcefully pushing his stomach in over and over again.

Linda came out of her room to find out what all the violent coughing and squawking was about. When she saw Jewel squeezing Blu, she worriedly ran to the table. Right when she got there, a big chunk of a Fruit Loop shot out of his mouth. Jewel let go of him, causing him to fall to his stomach. Though they both gasped for air, Blu did harder.

Linda kneeled down to his level. "Blu, are you okay?" she asked caringly. Blu nodded, which was difficult to do since his chin was on the table. He coughed out a few crumbs and got up, dizzy from his shortness of breath. He fell backwards onto Jewel, who was laying on her back catching her breath. The moment he realized this, he quickly got up blushing. It flustered him to be in contact with her.

Jewel slowly got up and 'phew'ed when she saw that he was alright.

"Blu, are you alright?" Linda asked again. Blu nodded and helped Jewel to her feet. Linda also 'phew'ed and cleaned up the mess with a paper towel. She walked back to her room to get ready for the big day.

Jewel blushed as she asked, "So what do you say?"

"Huh?" He then remembered what she had asked him. Stuttering ensued. "Oh! Y-You w-w-want to..." Jewel nodded. "W-with me?" Jewel nodded again with a bigger blush. "I um... I-I don't kn-know what to say. Um..." Is this what Rafael was talking about? She was trying to get him to mate with her, but Rafael told him to turn her down. Now that he thought about it, why? He spent all that time two weeks ago trying to get them together, but then tells him not to mate with her—not that he had his mind set on that. He'd be able to ask later today, but for now... "I-I'll... I'll think about it."

Jewel couldn't tell that he had just lied. "Could you?"

Blu nodded nervously.

When they finished eating, which was very awkward for both of them, Linda came back out of her room fully dressed. Blu noticed a yellow bit of an undershirt under her shirt. _That__'__s __weird. __Why __would __you __need __an __under shirt __when __it__'__s __so __hot __here?_

"Okay Blu and Jewel, are you ready for your big day?" The two macaws on the table squawked enthusiastically. Blu thought for a bit to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. The only thing he really needed to do that he'd already done was inform all of his friends that he would be released on this day. He and Jewel did this last night during "Eclipse" when there were no parts to make fun of.

There was a soft knock on the door. "Túlio's here, let's go you two," Linda said as she picked them up and perched them on her shoulders. She went to the door and opened it. Sure enough, Túlio was on the other side.

"You ready to go?" he asked with a smile. To Blu, his shirt seemed rather thick.

"Yep," Linda answered while walking out of the door.

They all went down the stairs and out of the door to Túlio's Jeep.

In the car, Túlio said, "Fernando should already be there." He said he'd get there early.

Blu hadn't heard anything from or about Fernando in the past two weeks. Blu had been wondering how he was. He had forgiven him for kidnapping them. After all, if Fernando hadn't done so, they probably would have never had they're adventure and he would've never earned Jewel's love.

...

Only a few minutes later, they reached the edge of the forest. There was a new fence that seemed to run around the perimeter of the forest. Both Túlio and Linda took off their shirts to reveal identical yellow shirts underneath. Maybe they needed them as proof that they were allowed to be there in the forest. Neither Blu or Jewel bothered to read what was on the left of their chests. Before they stepped out, Túlio said, "We're not quite there yet, Jewel, so you'll have to wait a few more minutes." Jewel squawked disappointedly. Her heart beat with anticipation and excitement, and the wait was becoming unbearable.

...

Linda and Túlio walked for about three minutes into the forest before they came across a tall wooden tower. Judging by the size, its construction probably started a week ago. Linda called out, "Hey, Fernando! Are you up there?"

Fernando's head peeked over the edge of the balcony. "Hey, Linda and Túlio! Blu, Jewel! Come up here!" He had to yell to be heard from his altitude.

Túlio and Linda brought them in through a door on the side. Inside, the first thing Blu and Jewel noticed was an engraving that said "Blu Bird Sanctuary." Under the name was an engraving of a macaw's head. It greatly resembled Blu. He turned his head as he was carried upstairs to confirm this. Blu looked at Jewel, who was already looking at him. "That's uh... kind of embarrassing," he said. Why did they have to go and do that without his consent?

"No, it's um..." Jewel tried to provide an alternative adjective, but failed to think of one. He was right. She coughed.

Blu chuckled. "There's probably one outside, too. Nico and Pedro better not see that."

"Yep, I bet you'd never hear the end of the teasing."

"Probably not."

The walked outside. Now they were on the the balcony. Fernando was leaning with his forearms on the rail. He wore the same shirt as Linda and Túlio. Linda put Blu down on the rail and Fernando stroked his head once.

Túlio walked over to the edge and cupped his hands to stabilize Jewel. _So__close._

"Whenever you're ready, Jewel," Túlio told her.

She looked up at him and squawked lightly. "Thank you." She looked back at Blu and smiled. Again, she looked at Túlio and nodded. With that signal, Túlio opened his hands for her.

Jewel took a step forward, spread her wings, and took to the skies. It felt amazing to be up in the air again without assistance. Her wing felt a bit stiff from disuse of course, but she ignored it. She couldn't wait to be flying with Blu in just a few seconds. She stopped in the air and looked down at them.

Blu and Linda performed their handshake one last time, or perhaps it wouldn't be the last. He didn't really know.

Linda stroked his head down to the bottom of his neck. "Don't be afraid to come visit every once in a while, okay?" Linda told him. Blu nodded.

Blu looked out into the sea of green. It was rather intimidating, but he had confidence in Scarla's advice. He looked up at Jewel, who was actually kind of hard to spot amidst the blue of the sky. He spread his wings and flew up to be with her. He heard a faint "That's my big brave boy." behind him.

Blu stopped when he reached Jewel. They looked each other in the eye for a second before flying off toward the middle of the forest.

Linda looked up at them sadly as she set her best friend free. Both Túlio and and Fernando walked to Linda's side, Túlio behind Fernando. Túlio put an arm around Linda and Fernando and rested a hand on either of their shoulders. Linda rested her head on Túlio's shoulder and put a hand over Fernando's. She and Túlio had been dating for the past week. Blu and Jewel knew this, of course. What they didn't know was that after careful consideration, they'd decided to adopt Fernando as they're son (despite not being married). If one was to be perfectly honest, they were... an unusual family.

* * *

><p>Blu and Jewel dove into the canopy of the forest. They'd decided to find a place to call home before they do anything else. They both knew that the best home would be somewhere high and spacious.<p>

"Okay, so I think we should split up, so we can find one faster," Blu suggested.

"That sounds good," Jewel agreed.

"Okay, when you find a place that looks good, just mark the place with a rock or something and come find me. I'll do the same," he instructed.

They split up to scan the jungle separately after wishing each other safety.

...

They conveniently met back at the same spot about half an hour later informing each other that they had each found a great place to stay. Jewel decided to see Blu's choice first.

He led her to it. Put simply, Jewel was stunned. It blew her place out of the water. It was huge, much bigger than her old home.

"So what do you think, Jewel? Should we go to your place?" he asked her, hoping she'd say yes to his choice.

To his delight, she answered, "No. This... Wow... This place is great! Good job, Blu!" Blu blushed at her praise.

"Good, I'm glad you like it. What should we do now?"

Jewel thought about it. She did have one thing in mind. She could just pounce him right now and get it done, but it was probably only around two o' clock. It was much to early. It would be much more romantic at night. She decided. "How about we go see Scarla? I wanna thank her for helping you face your fear of the jungle."

In his own mind, Blu sighed in relief that she didn't suggest the other thing. "Okay. She told me that she wants to meet you too."

Blu led her out of their new home to introduce her to Scarla.

...

When they reached Scarla's tree at the edge of the forest, Blu saw that Scarla was talking to another scarlet macaw, who appeared to be male. _Good __for __you, __Scarla,_ he thought. They landed on the branch in front of her hollow.

The male scarlet macaw noticed and was the first to speak. "Hello, there. Who are you?" he asked in a friendly manner, despite the sentence sounding rude on paper. He seemed like a nice guy.

Blu answered for himself and Jewel. "Hello, I'm Blu. This is Jewel."

"Blu? Are you that bird who saved my friends from the plane? They told me how you used a fire ex...tin...gui...sher"—he said it slow, not wishing to mispronounce the word—"to break out of your cage?"

Blu didn't know who his friends were, but answered anyway. "Yeah, I guess so. What's your name?"

"I'm Antonio. It's an honor to meet you. I can't thank you enough." He excitedly shook Blu's wing.

Blu was embarrassed by such praise. "No problem. I'm afraid you give me too much praise, though," he said modestly.

The two went on to talk about how Blu met Jewel and how Scarla met Antonio. Naturally, Blu's story was much more interesting. Antonio listened carefully as Blu explained every detail of his adventure with Jewel.

As the males began their conversation, Scarla began hers with Jewel. "So, you're Jewel, huh? Wow, Blu was right. You are pretty," she complimented.

With the knowledge that Blu had complimented her, Jewel blushed. "Did Blu really say that?"

"Yep." She dropped to a whisper. "He said that you're the most beautiful bird he's ever seen."

Jewel looked at Blu. _That__'__s __it, __Blu. __It__'__s __happening __tonight. __I __don__'__t __care __what __you __say. _She looked back at Scarla. "Thanks for telling me that. Also, thanks for teaching Blu how to survive out here. I couldn't stand seeing him so scared. Was he acting difficult when you met him?"

"Well... sorta. Have you told him you love him yet?"

How did she know this if this was they're first time speaking? "Yeah, I have."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that. That oughta put an end to his doubt."

"What do you mean?" Jewel asked. She had no idea.

"When I first spoke with him, he was completely in doubt that you wanted to be with him."

Jewel looked at Blu sadly for a moment and turned back to Scarla. "Well that shouldn't be a problem now." She rubbed the back of her own head. "To be honest, I slept on top of him last night after I told him."

Scarla blushed and chuckled at what she imagined.

The two pairs continued to talk and eventually swapped partners when they had exhausted things to say to each other. When, they exhausted things to say, the pairs merged. Nearly three hours passed by the time they'd all finished talking to each other; now, it was about five o' clock. They decided it was time to take their leave. They still had to see Rafael and Eva.

"I guess we'll see you two around then?" Blu said.

"Actually, Blu. Antonio and I have plans to go to the Branch tonight." Antonio looked nervous about this. He obviously hadn't gone out with Scarla yet. "You two should come with us. It'll be a double date." Blu noticed Antonio stiffen at the word 'date.' He reminded Blu a lot of himself.

Jewel replied for Blu, who reacted the same way Antonio did. "Yeah, sure. That sounds fun. Should we meet here?"

"Of course. Come here when the bell rings. That'll be a good time." The bell rang at eight every night.

"Okay, see ya then."

They flew out of Scarla's hollow to head to Rafael's. Oh, how Blu really didn't want to go there.

...

They knew they had arrived when they each spotted the giant rock. They flew up to the hollow and saw what was apparently the last of Rafael's chicks—not counting Maria, who was sleeping in a nest—getting scolded by his mother. He seemed genuinely afraid of her. Rafael was right.

"And you, Carlos. I've told you all a thousand times not to bother others who fly by. You all need to stop doing that!" Eva turned Carlos around and smacked him on the behind, which made him jump a few inches away while holding his behind. This must have been the signal for him to leave, because he started walking toward the exit/entrance of the hollow. Still looking straight the toucan chick shot Blu and Jewel a mischievous look before flying out.

Eva looked at the blu duo. "I tell ya, they can be such a headache. It's hard to punish seventeen kids on a daily basis. What are you two doing still flapping there? Come in."

Blu walked into the hollow first, followed by Jewel.

Jewel asked, "Is that him? You're newest chick?"

"Yes, it is. Rafael insisted it was a boy, but I won our bet, saying it was a girl."

"What did you two—" Blu began to ask, but was cut off by Eva.

"Anyways, how have you two been, Blu and Jewel?" Both Blu and Jewel assumed that Rafael had told her their names when they weren't around. Blu was still curious about the wagers of the bet, but he shrugged it off.

Jewel answered for them. "It's been great. I can't believe that I'm finally back out here after two weeks. Blu here helped me through it. I don't know what I would've done without him." To this, Blu blushed.

They all heard Rafael's screaming come from outside. The trio flew out of the hollow, and Blu and Jewel watched as Eva scared their kids away from their father.

"I'm not even going to bother punishing them," Eva mumbled when her job was done. She helped Rafael to his feet and quickly kissed him on the beak. Both Blu and Jewel were still baffled by how this was feasible when toucans had such long beaks.

They broke from the kiss and Rafael turned to Jewel. "Hey, Jewel! It's good to see you again. Nico and Pedro have been dying for you two to go down to the club."

"Well, we plan on going there with Scarla and her boyfriend later tonight," Jewel informed.

"Ah, goin' out with friends. I remember those days," he sighed. Eva nudged him in the stomach. "B-But of course, now that I have a family to take care of, I can't. Maybe when they chicks are grown up, we can all get together and go." Rafael looked at his mate for approval. She nodded with a smile. He sighed in relief.

Blu remembered what he actually came here for. "Rafael, I need to ask you something. It's kind of private though," he requested.

"Uh, sure, Blu. What about?"

"Just follow me overrr..." Blu looked around. "There." He pointed at one of the many trees next to a bush.

Rafael followed him, interested in what he had to talk to him about. Jewel stared at Blu as he walked away. Eva took note of the way she was looking at him. When she was sure that Blu and Rafael were out of earshot, she asked Jewel, "You want to mate with him, don't you?"

Jewel came out of her dazed state and looked at Eva like a preteen whose parents suddenly came up to her to talk about puberty. It was a very awkward moment. Jewel blushed hard whilst Eva stared at her with a look that said, 'I can read you like a book.' (Even though Eva couldn't read.)

Slowly, Jewel answered. "Y... Yeah... Kind of."

"Have you tried dropping hints?" Eva asked.

"I have, but I don't have to. I asked him if we could later."

"What did he say?"

"He said he'd think about it."

"Even if he says no, it'll be hard for him to resist when you're in heat. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know. Some friends told me about that." Jewel didn't bother mentioning that it was online, as she didn't feel like explaining. She continued. "But I wouldn't want to do it under those conditions." Technically, that statement was incorrect.

"I was hoping that I could have some fun helping you chase him, but I'll respect that. Should I try to stop you?"

"Could you if that's the case?"

"Of course, Jewel."

Meanwhile, Blu and Rafael were having a similar conversation about 20 yards away. Blu himself thought that this was a bit much, but better safe than sorry, right?

"This seems like a safe distance," Blu judged. Rafael thought this was an understatement. "Okay, so um... Jewel asked me if we could mate later."

"That's great, Blu."

"Actually, I'm not sure if it is. You told me that if she tries to mate with me, I should turn her down. Now, you're saying it's great. I'm a bit confused."

"Blu, you misunderstood me. You only have to turn her down if she tries to force you to mate with her."

"Are there any early signs or anything like that that'll help me know?"

"Trust me, Blu. You'll know the difference. I went through the same thing."

"Was it hard?"

"No, not really." That was a total lie.

"Hmm, well I don't think she's trying to force me, but I'm just not sure what to do."

Rafael sighed. "Blu, if you're not ready, you're not ready. Don't be afraid to say 'no.' She'll understand."

Blu smiled. "Thanks for the advice, Rafael."

"Anytime, Blu."

They walked back over to Eva and Jewel.

"Do you wanna go now, Jewel? I think I could use a nap before we go to the club." Blu yawned at the end.

Jewel smiled. She could tell he wasn't trying to leave so they could mate. He was genuinely tired. Come to think of it, she was too. "Sure, Blu. I think I could use one too." "We'll see you two around," Blu said before taking off.

"See ya," Jewel said before following him back home. Nineteen different 'Bye's followed behind them.

Blu and Jewel woke up from their after-dinner nap almost two hours later; it was a very fulfilling nap. They both stretched and left for Scarla's tree to get there before the bell rang.

When they arrived, they saw Scarla and Antonio already standing on the branch of Scarla's tree.

"Hey, guys. Ready to go?" Blu asked them.

They both answered, "Yes," and the four birds began their flight to the club for the double date.

A few minutes into the flight, Blu and Jewel noticed that they were flying away from where the Branch was located. Blu asked about it first. "Hey, Scarla, are you sure this is where the club is?"

"Yeah!"

"What, did they move it?"

"I guess so." Scarla had just found out about it yesterday, so she had no knowledge of it being moved.

Since they could fly, they arrived in only five minutes. Sure enough, the club was relocated to a different alley. It appeared to be made of the same towels and cloths as the old, just arranged differently. How they set it all up, they'd never guess.

As they all walked in, Blu and Jewel were immediately greeted by Nico and Pedro, whom they hadn't seen in nearly two weeks since that time in Linda's room.

"Blu! Jewel! It's great to see you again," Nico said.

"Yeah, birds. Everybody's been dying to see you two dance again." Pedro added.

"Hey, guys. It's good to be back," Blu replied.

"Hi, Nico and Pedro," Jewel started. "We'd like you to meet Scarla and Antonio. They're making this a double date."

"Huh, we could try having you two dance and see how that goes!" Nico exclaimed.

Pedro started turning in different directions in the air and called a few names. "Yo, Kipo! Bobby! Ricky! Andre! He flashed wing gestures to each one. Each bird grabbed a friend or two and brought them to a makeshift instrument. Nico and Pedro flew up to the main stage, which was made up of fruit crates. Nico remained in the air while Pedro landed on the center crate.

"Alright everyone, listen up." The music currently playing stopped. "Ya'll remember Blu and Jewel, right?" Everybody started chattering about them. "Yeah, those two amazing dancers who saved us from that plane. I saw some of you on there, too. Well, they're back." He waved a wing to signal for them to come forward. Blu and Jewel obeyed. "They haven't been here cause Jewel's wing has been messed up for the past two weeks, but now it's healed. They also happen to have some friends with them tonight. Those two scarlet macaws right there." A second spotlight shone on Scarla and Antonio, they both took a nervous step back. "This song is dedicated to Blu and Jewel. Scarla and Antonio, feel free to join in." As he finished, Nico nodded at Pedro and Kipo.

Drums started up in a very familiar beat. Blu and Jewel looked at each other excitedly. Simultaneously, Pedro made lap around the middle of the clubbegan to talk over the music. "Alright everybody, ya'll know how it's done. Put you're wings together and clap 'em as loud as you can! Flap 'em! Clap 'em! I don't care, slap 'em! He cried his lovehawk squawk and the song began:

**Party in the Ipanema, baby**

The line was followed by a series of rhythmic claps from cans, which acted as metal drums.

**I wanna party, I wanna samba**

Nico slid down a straw and used his wing and momentum to make a round around the rim of a bottle.

**I wanna party, I wanna samba**

Pedro hopped over his cans as Nico jumped down from the bottle.

**I wanna party and live my life (my life)**

Nico and Pedro danced next to each other. Nico incorporated his bottle cap into his dance.

**I wanna party (party) and flyyyyyyyyyy HIGH!**

Nico and Pedro got back to back and looked at each other. On the word 'fly,' they broke up and flew in opposite directions. On 'high,' Nico landed and started to tap his cap like a tambourine to the next line:

**Imma fly, fly just like a bird (But you are a bird)**

**Oh yeah, you're right, so let me fly just like a rocket then (Okay!)**

Nico stopped drumming his cap and carefully spun his way onto a spoon. On 'okay,' Pedro jumped onto the bill of the spoon and launched Nico into the air.

**Fly so high, where I need to come down for oxygen (Hey!)**

It took the entire line for Nico to fall back to where he was. The fact that he could do all this without losing his cap was an accomplishment in itself. The audience joined in on this 'Hey!' and every 'Hey!' after.

**Cause once we're started baby, aint no, ain't no stoppin' then (Hey!)**

Blu started to tap his foot in rhythm with the song.

**Cause I just wanna live my life and party (Hey!)**

Nico slid down a plank of wood and met Pedro at the bottom. Blu's part was coming up soon.

**All I want is to be free and rock my body (Okay!)**

Blu started to shake his tail back and forth.

**I've been around the world, and I wanna live my life**

**In Rio, cause in Rio, cause in Rio, I realize**

Blu let the music take over for him from here.

**I wanna party (party), I wanna samba (party)**

**I wanna party (party) and flyyyyyy!**

Jewel smiled in amazement as Blu replicated his moves from the first time they danced. Knowing that he would continue that pattern, she felt relieved. At least she wouldn't have to think of anything new and original. Pedro smacked a drum at the end and began his solo.

**I'm that samba samba masta masta masta masta masta**

**Push out sound from my ghetto blasta blasta blasta blasta blasta**

Blu watched Jewel in relief that she had also decided to replicate her parts. She started off slow by doing a single turn around while allowing her wings to brush the floor.

**You dance fast, but I dance fasta fasta fasta fasta fasta**

**You to slow. You need to catch up.**

**You can dance and dance, but...**

At the end of this line, something small tackled his back, causing him to run into Jewel. He noticed that Scarla and Antonio were next to them

**I wanna party (party), I wanna samba (party)**

He backed an inch away, hoping he didn't mess her up. He looked behind himself and saw Nico fly away.

**I wanna party (party), I wanna samba (party)**

He turned back to Jewel, who was smiling and had already begun the next part. It only took him a second to catch up.

**I wanna party (party) and live my life (my life)**

Blu and Jewel circled around each other with each step in perfect harmony with the other's. Scarla and Antonio had started to mirror they're moves step by step. You how in some movies, like 'Happy Feet,' a large group can somehow be in tune with each other without any prior practice or rehearsal? That's what this was like, but on a much smaller scale.

**I wanna party (party) and flyyyyyy!**

On the second 'party' Jewel spun. On 'fly,' Blu and Jewel crossed each other. Because of the direction Jewel was facing, he grabbed her wing and turned he back

The chanting of 'oh oh oh oh oh..." was drowned out by the chorus of 'Hey hey hey hey hey' from everybody else. Blu and Jewel continued to dance by spinning half way and then pulling out and pulling back in on each other's wings

Pedro squawked. The next 'Hey's were actually a part of the song.

**Hey hey hey hey hey hey**

Pedro squawked one last time as Blu and Jewel completed a triple spin in each other's wings. With that, Scarla and Antonio instinctively flew up and joined the Ruby macaws circling above them. Blu threw Jewel into the air to allow her to perform her vocalization.

**Laya laya laya laya**

Blu stared at Jewel with just as much attentiveness as the first time. The purple lights and extra color of the ruby macaws, Antonio, and Scarla complimented her beauty.

**Laya laya laya laya laya laya laya laya**

Her beautiful voice echoed throughout the club some more before she slowly came down and faded out of the song. She looked deep into Blu's eyes. In his dazed expression, all Blu could do was blink.

The crown continued to chant 'Hey hey hey...' as Blu and Jewel moved their faces closer to each others. At the very end of the song, they locked beaks and everybody cheered. This time, the song ended just the way it should have the first time. Though neither of them used their tongue, the kiss was very passionate. They both wanted it to last forever, but if they wanted to go on living and not suffocate, they'd have to separate eventually. Reluctantly, they did. They blushed at each other's dreamy expression and the fact that everyone had just seen that.

"And that, people, is how it's done," both Nico and Pedro announced.

Blu and Jewel stayed for almost another hour; Scarla and Antonio would stay longer. It flew by really fast with all the fun they were having together. They danced more modestly to give others a chance at the spotlight. At the end of the hour, Blu and Jewel began their flight home

...

They landed inside their hollow and threw the marking rock out. They stretched a bit, tired from dancing and flying back. They both looked out at the moon, which could be seen through cracks in the canopy of the trees. It illuminated the forest pretty well, despite all the leaves blocking it.

Jewel thought about the day. It was incredible. They were released, got to see their friends, and best of all, she got to go out with Blu. It surprised her that freedom wasn't at the top of that list.

Blu turned to walk to the middle of the hollow. She looked at him. Even though it had probably been the best day of her life, there was still one loose end. "Wait, Blu. You haven't answered me yet," she said.

"Huh? What do you mean, Jewel?" He'd completely forgotten to think about what she asked him that morning, but he didn't know that.

Jewel walked over to him. "You know what I mean," she whispered seductively. She locked his beak with hers, but kept on walking, causing Blu to fall backwards, landing on his back.

Blu closed his eyes. This was pure ecstasy for him. It didn't get much better than this.

Jewel took her beak off of his and asked him, "So what's you're answer, Blu?"

Then Blu remembered. She had asked him that morning if they could mate that night. He could tell that this wasn't just because Jewel was in heat. It was her and her alone who wanted it. But even so... He had his answer. He looked at her sadly.

"What... What's wrong, Blu?"

Blu sighed sadly. "Look... Jewel... I... I'm sorry, but I... I... can't do it... not tonight..." He had a hard time getting this out. His throat was choking itself.

Jewel stepped off of him. "But-But I thought you said you would—"

"I know, Jewel. I did. But I... I'm just not ready, okay? Please try to understand."

Jewel took a few steps away from him to the side of the hollow, away from the entrance. She stared at the floor. "Okay. I see," was all she said before she lied down.

Blu stared at her sadly. Though his heart hurt, he knew he had made the right choice. He walked to the opposite end of the hollow and lied down.

He asked many questions. Had he hurt her? Was he being selfish? Had he done the right thing?

He fell asleep, hoping that he hadn't ruined their relationship.

**Phew, that was a long one. It's 6000+ words (It was 23 pages long), not counting the author's note.**

**to therobotchicken fan: It's okay.**

**to BluJet The MacawHawk: Thanks. you have a point. I mention that in the chapter.**

**to Zero2o1o: You are VERY welcome.**

**to Ghostofinu: Glad to here it. Hope you don't mind me asking, but you're not one of those people who only plays FPS, are you?**

**to vampiresinrio: Man, that sucks. Thanks for reviewing.**

**to C.A.M.z: I don't even know what I was thinking :P. Now that you mention it, if you're not gonna ask a question realted to the story, could you ask through a PM? Thank you. I wouldn't call my ideas "godlike" since they are very similar to other authors'.**

**to SmartA55esUnite: 't wait to read more of your story. . Every other scarlet macaw is named scarlet, so I made mine female and gave her a feminine name. That makes it different. 3. I haven't actually seen that, sadly. Yes, I do find it overwhelming. I was expecting 25 reviews at this point.**


	9. Mentality

**While you're reading, please note that it's Blu and Jewel's thoughts told from my point of view. I thought it would be kind awkward to word this chapter in their perspective.**

Blu laid there, unmoving. He sighed. It was meant to be quiet, but the deafening silence of their hollow amplified the noise. His eyes were open; his sadness kept him from slumber... He had shot himself in the foot... It was supposed to be the perfect day. They were finally released. They went on a double date with Scarla and Antonio to the club. They danced together to the song that made them fall in love with each other. They kissed. The night before, around this time, Jewel had confessed her love to him, and in just twenty-four hours, he may have broken that love... Why did he say, 'no'? How could he be so selfish? She wanted to mate with him to end the supposedly perfect day, but he turned her down! His eyes welled up, and he sniffled. He wanted to be Jewel's mate; she loved him and he loved her, but he wasn't ready for such a big leap. He didn't care how good it felt; if he messed up somehow or hurt her, it would all be meaningless. Also, there was the pressure of having to take care of kids. Before two weeks ago, he had never given this any thought. He had never been in love, much less practically forced to be. He was sure that Jewel would be a great mother. He saw how motherly she was with Rafael's kids when they were chained together. He was more worried about himself; what if he wasn't a good father? What if he couldn't provide for them? Jewel's instincts were more refined, so she was capable of doing so, but what kind of man—and mate—would he be to allow that? He turned his head to the other side of the hollow where Jewel was and sighed. Even in the darkness, he could make out her beauty. Usually, the very sight of Jewel brought a smile to his face, but it failed to this time. _I__'__m __sorry, __Jewel, _he thought before turning his head back. He felt tears run down his cheeks.

* * *

><p>Jewel, on the other side of the hollow, stared at her wall. Tears had been running down her cheeks for the past five minutes. <em>Why, <em>_Blu? __Why? _They had a wonderful day together. They had so much fun at the club. She had thought he wouldn't refuse, despite his shyness. How could he turn her down like that? She was so ready for him too, to become his mate. They finally had their privacy, which she tried to take advantage of. She attempted to seduce him with a kiss, but it wasn't good enough even when she was on top of him. If Blu had some mild interest, he probably would have stuttered out of nervousness. But this time, he remained calm. He just paused in between words, trying to think of the best way to put her down lightly; he had no interest. She sighed. She'd spent her entire life alone, with nobody to hold. Then, Blu came along and gave her somebody to love. Then, he just shot her down... _Blu, __you __idiot, _she thought. Having said that, she realized how selfish she was being. She turned her head and saw that he was sleeping on the opposite end of the hollow, head turned away. She felt lonely again. She longed for his touch, his warmth. She didn't know how he'd react though if she went over there. She decided to remain where she was. Jewel turned her head back to it's original position. She couldn't stay mad at him. After all, she still loved him; they were chained-to-each-other-birds.

The two lovebirds fell asleep on opposite ends of the hollow that night with no one to hold.

**Before I say anything else, I have a request. If you're not gonna say anything story related in your review, could you make it a private message? (Ghostofinu, you're fine, because you tell me that you're interested in the story's progression.)Also, when you're reviewing, could some of you elaborate a bit more? I like reading about what you guys think of the story. Thank you.**

**Before anybody starts complaining, yeah yeah, I know it's a sharp contrast in length, especially after last chapter, but I felt that I needed to show what Blu and Jewel were thinking. I also felt that it deserved to be it's own chapter.**

**Just ten reviews for that long-ass chapter? Oh well, it's pretty good, considering that nobody multi-posted. It got the story 384 hits in one day, too.**

**To WolfonFyre: I agree, but length isn't everything. (Please, for the love of God, nobody make a joke about that!) Thank you.**

**To Ghostofinu: Phew, I'm glad to hear that you're not an FPS-whore. If you have Portal 2, we should co-op together. I haven't been able to play the peer review DLC.**

**To Lunyk: I'm glad to hear that you liked it. Make my own song? PFFFFFT HA HA HA HA HA HA. I like the suggestion, but let's just say that the creation of my own song would kill the chapter. (I'm horrible with music.)**

**To Zero2o1o: lol, I hope you're kidding about that. This is Blu you're talking about. Of course he's scared. He wouldn't do it for his own benefit. He's selfless.**

**To therobotchicken fan: Thank you.**

**To vampiresinrio: Thanks**

**To NoRemorse81: I will.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: He'll try to. Sorry, but even when you break it down like that, I still don't see the similarities.**

**To SmartA55esUnite: There is no mistake. You just misunderstood. Scarla was saying that a bell from the church will ring at the designated time. Perhaps I should have explained a little more. (As far as I know, there is no bell in Rio in real life that rings at eight. I just needed a good time designator.)**

**To Sierra strike: What's with the "ha" at the beginning? Why would I take offense to that question? 10th**

**To Corration: I would have done that, but I'm horrible with song selection, so I simply used Hot Wings. As for your fourth sentence, that's a legitimate criticism. I'm completely at fault for that, so here's my explanation: I didn't want to leave Scarla alone, so I added Antonio. However, I had to establish that he was her boyfriend, so I had them all go on a double date. I'm horrible with all forms of dance and music, so I used the scene from the movie and threw them in.**


	10. Forgiven

Blu woke up still feeling depressed about the night before. He wondered how he'd feel at this moment if he had mated with Jewel. He'd probably feel worse, because of regret... "Regret": That seemed like too harsh a word for Blu. He imagined he wouldn't regret it, but rather he'd... He didn't know.

He started listing off people who could possibly cheer him up. Antonio: no, Blu didn't really know him that well. Rafael: no, his advice always seemed to backfire. Nico and Pedro: no, they were probably too busy partying. Besides, how could they possibly help? Scarla: no, the fact that she was female would probably remind him too much of Jewel. Linda, Tulio, Fernando: no, they were all humans, and he really didn't feel like writing.

He looked over at Jewel, who was still sleeping, and sighed sadly. She was his first and only love. He loved her with all his heart, but why wasn't he able to take that leap? He had always imagined it easy for lovers. However, it was more complicated than he'd ever thought.

He had to make it up to her. But what could he possibly do? He couldn't just mate with her; you can't fix a problem with the problem. Take her to the club? No, he definitely wasn't in the mood. He guessed the best he could do was a mango. He looked out of their tree and saw a tree full of them right across from him. Huh, he hadn't even noticed it when they were "house"-hunting. He flew over to it and clipped a perfectly ripe mango from it. He carried it in his talons back to the hollow and set it down carefully to not wake Jewel. He slowly tore the mango open with his talons and dug in.

He had never felt this sluggish in the morning. He hadn't thought that turning down something that you half-wanted could make you feel so awful. He was so caught up in his depression that he didn't even notice Jewel eating with him for about a minute. He was hoping to give her a piece of the mango himself, but oh well. He just hoped this offering was enough.

Still eating, he moved his eye to look at her. Her beautiful face was tainted with sorrow. He decided to say something: "Good morning, Jewel." He failed to cover up his sad tone.

"Good morning," she replied in an identical tone. Jewel thought about last night. For the first time ever, she actually wished that Túlio was here to convince Blu to mate with her.

The two ate awkwardly side by side. Neither of them decided to speak until they'd both finished eating. Blu told her, "Jewel. I'm... I'm sorry about last night.

Jewel hesitated to reply. When she decided to, she sighed. "It's... it's okay, Blu." Blu took note of the insincerity of her voice.

He looked at the floor sadly. Maybe they could just go out for a bit. The beach sounded good at the moment. He'd never actually gone to the beach—not counting the hang glider incident during their time chained together. Perhaps the new experience could cheer him up. Not now, though. He still felt incredibly tired from depression.

Blu and Jewel both just lied back down where they slept last night. Neither of them could find the energy to get up and do anything.

...

At what felt like seven o' clock in the afternoon, Blu got up, finally having found the energy and built up the courage to ask her. "Jewel, would you... Would you like to go to the beach?"

Jewel may have given a quick, faint smile before saying, "Sure."

They both flew out of the hollow. The entire flight, they didn't say anything to each other. Neither of them had the guts to say anything, even Jewel, the tougher of the pair.

...

They landed on the soft sand of the beach about five minutes later. There were no people in the area of the beach they were. They didn't really know what to do now that they were there; they just walked. _Ugh, __this __was __a __stupid __idea. __What __would __we __even __do __here? __Stupid, __stupid, __stupid, _Blu thought to himself. Caught up in his self-insults, he didn't immediately notice Jewel stop walking. He stopped too and looked back. Jewel was looking out into the sea. She sat down right at the edge of where the waves wouldn't reach. He cautiously walked back and sat down next to her.

The sound of the waves was very relaxing. It made him really tired, though. He slowly nodded as he dozed off and woke up repeatedly. He finally managed to stay awake when he heard Jewel say something. "Beautiful sunset, isn't it Blu?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... yeah."

There was a long, awkward silence. The sunset was indeed beautiful, but not as beautiful as Jewel, he thought. He looked at her and thought back to last night. How could he turn her down? He was all she had left. He was the only one who could cheer her up, but at the same time the only one who could hurt her as bad as he did. He began to doubt whether he deserved her love. Perhaps it was best to let her go. That very thought tore at his heart. The pain brought tears to his eyes. He sniffled.

Noticing, Jewel asked, "Blu, what's... what's wrong?"

In between sniffles and gasps for air, Blu said, "Jewel, if you don't want to be with me anymore, I understand." He started to cry harder. He tried to stop the tears with his wings, but what good would that do?

These words shocked Jewel. How could he think like that? She wanted to smack his head for how stupid he was being, but figured that would make things worse. In a soothing voice, she said, "Blu, don't say that. Why would I leave you because of that? Last night isn't any reason for me to do that. I still love you, Blu. Nothing can change that." She put on a smile for him.

Blu smiled a little. He quickly calmed down and wiped tears from his eyes. He moved a little closer to her. He already felt a little better. "Is there any way that I can make it up to you? Aside from _that_?"

She averted her eyes to the sand they sat on for a few seconds. She looked back up at him and said, "I want you to say it."

"Huh?" Blu asked. He honestly didn't know what she meant.

"Say you love me. That's it."

Blu blushed for the first time in twenty-four-plus hours—that's a new record. "Anything other than that?" He knew he couldn't weasel his way out of this one, but he gave it a shot.

Jewel shook her head, smiling at his escape attempt.

Blu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Jewel, I... I l... I lo..."

Jewel giggled. "You know, you're pretty cute when you're nervous, which is always."

Blu blushed harder. He knew that she thought he couldn't say it, but he wanted to prove her wrong. "Jewel, I love you," he said calmly.

Jewel's face showed shock at that moment. _Wow, __he __actually __said __it._ She had to hear it again. "Say it again."

"Jewel, I love you. I love you so much." He was blushing visibly (somehow), but spoke calmly. He was smiling now too, something Jewel was glad to see. She also noticed that he had moved his face closer to hers, so that their beaks were almost touching; this was an interesting development. If one was to witness them in front of the sunset, the sight was rather artistic.

"I love you too, Blu," she said softly, before slowly planting her beak onto his.

Blu was half-surprised by the kiss, as he half-intended for it to happen. What really surprised him was that Jewel slid her tongue slowly into his mouth. He accepted and wrapped his wings around her. He carefully slid his tongue into her mouth, so as not to break their most passionate kiss to date (which was over a period of two weeks).

As their tongues slid past and over each other, Blu and Jewel thought the same things: One, who knew that something as sad as last night could bring them closer like this? Two, the other was really good at this.

Jewel fell onto her back, so that Blu was on top of her for a change. She wasn't worried about getting sand on her back; it was dry sand, so it would easily shake out.

They both felt so much better now. Jewel, because she'd practically forgotten about last night; she wasn't even bothered that they wouldn't be mating tonight either. And Blu, because he'd been forgiven.

As much as they were enjoying the obscenely long kiss, they had to stop when they heard Pedro's voice. "Woah, now, you two. I don't think it's a good idea to do it on the beach, no matter how romantic it seems," he said sarcastically. Blu and Jewel shot him and Nico annoyed looks, to which they both flinched at. Nico and Pedro flew down from the nearby dock whilst Blu got off of Jewel and helped her up.

"Pedro's right, Blu. You should save that for the tree," Nico agreed. "But, that's not what we're here for. Look, we need you two to come down to the club. Some newbies want to see you two dance."

Jewel quickly thought of a way out of the situation. "Actually, we were... we were uh... just about to go back home." She looked at Blu. "Right, Blu?" Blu nodded.

"Aw, I see. Gonna get some"—he put up air-quotes—"'alone time?' That's alright."

"No, that's not it. We were just going to go, be-because um... it's getting kind of late," Blu defended.

"Sure ya'll are," Nico said. "See ya," he said before flying off.

Pedro gave an unnecessary lovehawk squawk and followed him. "Yo, Nico. Don't you think they'll..." His voice faded away as they flew.

Blu and Jewel looked at each other and chuckled. "So are we really going home?" Blu asked.

"Yeah, I guess. I've never really been a big fan of staying out late anyway."

With that, the healed couple flew back home.

...

As they walked into their tree, Jewel said, "Don't worry, Blu. I won't try tonight. Take as much time as you need." She pecked him on the beak afterwards.

Blu smiled as he lied down on one side of the hollow. "Thank you for understanding and forgiving me, Jewel."

"Of course, Blu. How could I not? We're chained-to-each-other birds, remember?" Jewel said as she cuddled with him for his warmth.

Blu blushed at the fact that she had used his phrase on him."Good night, Jewel."

"Good night, Blu."

The two lovebirds were glad to have been able to make it up to each other. With the other in their wings, they dreamt of each other that night. It was a great relief after the previous night.

...

Jewel woke up around three o' clock in the morning and looked at Blu for a minute. Had he been awake, he would have seen the seductive glint in her eyes. She went back to sleep, vowing that she'd do anything she could to mate with him tomorrow.

**To Zero2o1o: This kind of comment is also acceptable, people, because... um... he's disagreeing with a character's actions, so it's like a discussion thing. *awkward silence* Just read the comment and you'll understand.**

**To Ghostofinu: Glad that you felt something in it. That was my intention in that chapter, but it still doesn't compare to what I felt for Blu in your story, "Tested Love". You're favorite chapter, really? Oh... P.S. I looked at the category of "Tested Love"; humor, WTF? I feel that I have to LOL at that, even though that's a horrible thing to do, considering the content of that story.**

**To C.A.M.z: No, I don't think I'll make an M-rated story or chapter or anything like that. Sorry. :P**

**To SmartA55esUnite: I have all the current-gen consoles. I got the Wii first, so that one has the most games. My favorite is the PS3, though. I spend the most time on that. I also have a 3DS, N64, SNES, Gamecube (But I have a wii, so that's kinda useless.), and GBA SP. I got Portal and Team Fortress 2 on the Mac for free, so I guess I have PC(Mac) too.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: Thank you, that was the full intention.**

**To Sierra strike: This kind of comment is also okay, people.**

**To NoRemorse81: I would feel the same way. Here was your chapter. Hope you enjoyed.**

**To Zero2o1o: I shall remain silent on this topic to avoid any possible spoilers.**

**To Lunyk: Yeah, I know that. But still, even with just lyrics, I suck. In biology, I had to write a rap (I am not kidding.) about a cell movement. It was one of the worst things I have ever written.**


	11. In Heat Part 1

**Wtf? The doc manager is giving me problems. It's forcing me to type in the code for a paragraph and bold text manually. It's not difficult, but it's a tedious process.**

**Hey, would some of you mind voting on my poll on my profile? I have a few polls, but since I can only have one up at a time, it'll change daily.**

**Do any of you know if Count Doofus is still on here? I'd like a review from him. Oh, and The Scarlet Macaw and holospartoi258-zyphyr01.**

Blu woke up and looked at Jewel. He was glad to see the smile on her face. He thought back to last night on the beach. He couldn't believe that he was finally able to say it: that he loved her. It felt so good to finally get it out. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He was even more glad to have been forgiven; she'd said that he could take as long as he needed to make that decision. With that in mind, he wondered how long it would take him. He shook the thought away and got his mind back to the topic of being forgiven. He needed to thank her somehow. He went with the mango—again. He took his wing off of her and went to the tree across from theirs.

He returned a few seconds later with the best mango on the tree and prepared it by splitting it open with his talons. He nudged Jewel awake with his wing.

She slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Good morning, Blu," she said in a soothing tone.

The way she said that... There was an atmosphere around it that Blu couldn't identify. However, there was something oddly pleasant about ti. He shrugged it off and said, "Good morning, Jewel. Look, since you forgave me yesterday, I... I wanted to thank you, so I... I got you this mango. I-I know it's not much, but—"

"Thank you." There was something definitely different about her atmosphere. Jewel got up and started eating. She would need her energy for today. Blu joined her in eating the mango. He blushed as Jewel ate with her face very close to his.

When they finished, Jewel thanked him again, then suddenly asked, "So Blu, do you want it now or later?"

Blu looked at her quizzically. "What do mean? The mango? We just ate it."

Jewel giggled at him mischievously. "Don't be silly, Blu. I mean _it _." She had been slowly moving closer to him since she finished eating, and at the end of her last sentence she pushed Blu onto his back and started kissing him passionately. Blu didn't kiss back. Instead he just laid there, eyes open with shock, as Jewel's tongue slid all around his mouth. She was obviously trying to seduce him. _Oh... _How naive could one be to not realize what was happening for more than a second after it had started? This was exactly what Rafael had warned him of.

A few seconds later, Jewel moved her face away from his and said, "Mmm... That was even better than the mango."

Blu blushed at the sensual tone laced into her words. "Th-thank you," he said awkwardly. _You __idiot, __fight __back! _That's exactly what he did—or rather, wanted to do—next. Instead, he made a request; he was far too nice to just shove Jewel off of him. "Jewel? C-could you get off me?"

Jewel shook her head. "Not until you say 'yes', my Blu bird. Now answer me. Do you want it _now _or _later? __" _ She added some extra seductiveness to 'now' and 'later'.

_Geez, __stop __talking __like __that! _Blu thought. But as much as he wanted her to stop, as much as he feared the soothing tone of her voice at the moment, he found that... he actually kind of like it. Just the way she was talking; it melted his heart. But he figured that that was her goal: to get him to want nothing more than to mate with her. She wanted him to feel the same sexual desire that she felt at the moment. It may have worked, if it wasn't for his willpower. Actually, it was more like his fear of being a father and his morals that prevented him from mating with her while she had no control over herself. His shyness also played a role in his refusal.

Blu had been staring at her for about a minute, breathing deep from his quickening heart. He realized this and figured he needed to find a way out. Luckily, the area and direction in which she had him pinned gave him a clear view of the outside. It didn't really matter if he could see outside. It mattered that Jewel couldn't. She merely had to think he could see outside. Blu moved his head to the side and said, "What's that?"

Jewel looked behind herself. Blu, seeing that this was his chance, pushed Jewel off of him and made a break for it. "Sorry, Jewel!" was all he said before flying out of the hollow.

Jewel got off her back and yelled after him, "Blu, get back here!" She then took off after him.

_Cheese __and __sprinkles, __how __could __I __forget __about __this? __I __don __' __t __even __know __how __long __this __' __ll __last! __All __I __can __do __is __just __run! __Wait __a __minute... __No, __I __can __hide! __But __I __have __to __put __some __distance __between __us __first. _Blu looked back, horrified to see that Jewel was quickly gaining on him. For someone who had had a cast on for two weeks, she could fly _really _ fast. He had learned how to fly just two weeks ago, so this actually kind of made sense to him. However, he had his knowledge of aerodynamics to aide him. He retracted his wings and dove to the ground, trying to gain momentum, thus gaining speed. When just a few feet above the ground, he threw his wings back out and swooped diagonally upward. It wasn't until he was back up in the air that he realized how risky a move that was. He didn't have time to worry about this though, as Jewel didn't seem to have lost any distance between them. Panicking, he weaved in between trees, trying with all his might to evade capture. A few times, he almost crashed into a tree, because he constantly looked back to see if he'd gained any distance between himself and Jewel. Jewel on the other hand, had no such problem. Her lust-filled eyes stayed forward and focused completely on him, so she was able to smoothly maneuver herself through each tree before her.

_Aagh! __This __isn __' __t __working! __Think! __Think! __Think! __Hold __on! __Scarla __lives __around __here! _Blu then flew in the direction of Scarla's hollow. His determination to get help outweighed Jewel's uncontrollable desire to mate with him, so he was now able to fly much faster than before. If only he remembered what Rafael had told him about females sticking together.

When Blu reached her tree within the following two minutes, he was in luck—or not—to see her there.

"Scarla!" he yelled, attracting her attention.

"Oh, hey, Blu."

Blu landed in her hollow, talking really fast. "Scarla, you gotta help me. Jewel's trying to force me to mate with her! You gotta help me!"

_Oh, __this __is __going __to __be __a __fun __day, _Scarla thought. She had to be sure of the conditions first. "Is she mad that you won't mate with her?"

"No! She's just trying to make me!" He was yelling at this point to make sure there couldn't be any miscommunications.

Scarla smiled, struggling to hold back her own excitement for today. "Of course I'll help you, Blu. Come out here with me, and I'll talk some sense into her."

"Thank you so much, Scarla," Blu said; how gullible could he be?

They walked outside onto a branch conveniently located next to Scarla's hollow. They could clearly see Jewel coming toward them. Scarla checked their surroundings. There were a bunch of giant leaves growing around the base of her tree. She quickly smacked Blu hard on the back, causing him to yelp and fall off the branch, and dove after him. Shocked by the sudden action of Scarla's, Blu completely forgot that he could fly. The leaves broke his fall, just as Scarla had intended. Scarla landed on one of Blu's splayed out wings, pinning him to the ground

"Scarla! What are you doing?" Blu asked as he tried to push her of with his free wing.

Scarla slapped his wing away and giggled mischievously. "This is going to be fun, and I'm joining in on it." Perhaps Scarla should have said something that didn't sound like she was suggesting a threesome. That was not at all what Scarla had intended to say. They both blushed at this awkward statement. Scarla laughed it off and looked at Jewel, who had just landed a few feet away from them.

"Okay Jewel, he's all yours," Scarla said as Jewel walked up to them. Scarla got off his wing and Jewel put a foot on Blu's chest. For some reason, this made Blu lose some motivation to get away. He didn't know why, but he kind of liked being touched by Jewel, despite the fact that it flustered him. Blu's heart rate increased as she rubbed from his chest down to his stomach.

"You're so cute when you cower in fear," Jewel said sweetly in that same tone she'd given him back in their hollow. "So do you want it now or later? We could do it right here, but you probably wouldn't like that, would you?"

"PFFFT HA HA HA HA...!" Blu could hear Scarla laughing to the point of tears a few feet away.

Jewel continued. "We're going to have so much fun, all day and all night. And you'll enjoy every. Single. Moment. Of it. I'll make sure of that." She ran her wing across his chest.

Blu tried reasoning with her. When would he learn? "But last night you said I could take as much time as I need."

"Forget what I said!" Jewel snapped, more playfully than angrily. "What matters is what I'm saying now."

Suddenly, Antonio showed up. "Hey, w-what's going on here?" He looked worriedly at Blu and Jewel, wondering but pretty sure about what they were about to do. He wondered even more why Scarla was watching.

Blu decided he would have to use him to get out of this one. "Antonio! You gotta help me! Please!"

"What? How?"

"Just distract Scarla, so she can't help Jewel!"

Both Jewel and Scarla decided not to interject, believing that they could easily overpower Blu and Antonio.

Antonio knew one way to distract Scarla, but was afraid of getting slapped for moving too fast. Well, he had to pay Blu back somehow for saving his friends. He flew down to Scarla and pressed his beak against hers. Scarla accepted, much to his and Blu's surprise.

Blu looked up at Jewel and said, "Alright, Jewel, let's go home."

Jewel looked at him excitedly. "So you'll do it?"

Blu nodded—lied. Jewel quickly got off of him so that they get home quicker and get down to business. The moment she turned around, Blu took off in the other direction.

"Hey! Blu!" Blu had to laugh at how gullible she was in this state.

He managed to keep ahead of her all the way to Rafael's hollow.

**Sorry this took so long, guys. I've been distracted by Sonic Generations. This'll probably go on for two or three more chapters.**

**OMFG OMFG OMFG! I just got the WORST, SICKEST idea for a Rio-related fanfic EVER! If... If anybody would like to talk to me about this, send me a PM.**

**To : I responded in a PM, so I have nothing to say here.**

**To spilooooo: Thank you.**

**To Hondurazz (I lol at your inability to keep a profile name): Somebody who has a 3DS? FINALLY! Yeah, I check comments with it and use it so I can respond quickly, instead of having to flip through windows on my computer.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: Thank you. No, I haven't. I'll get around to it.**

**To C.A.M.z: I'd like to call it a running joke, but it's only happened once**

**To Sierra strike: As do I. I will.**

**To Zero2o1o: I've responded to this, so uh, NEXT!**

**To NoRemorse81: I don't fell offended. Like I said, I completely understand. I update whenever I can.**

**To Ghostofinu: Good to hear. Thank you. I think the part during which I felt the most pain was when Blu was in the shower and looked at the spot where they mated.**

**To Kunyk: I'm going to assume that you're Lunyk, but you misspelled your name. Perhaps Kunyk is correct and you misspelled it last time. Wow, that project sounds worse, but at least you had the rhythm readily selected.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: In that sentence, "neck" is meant to be implied. "Blu rubbed her neck with his (neck) tenderly." I'm pretty sure I can do that in English. As for "tenderly", I needed a word for "softly and carefully."**

**To Lazy Reviewer: You're lazy? O RLY? I couldn't tell by reading your name lol. Thank you.**

**To OmarBarria: XD**


	12. In Heat Part 2

**Before I start, I want to say, wow. 100 reviews? When I started this story, I never imagined it would get 100 reviews. In just eleven chapters. In two months. Thank you all for your support and time you've taken to read and review this story.**

**It seems that a lot more people than usual have gone to my profile in the past two days at my request, but nobody voted on my poll. By the off chance that none of you could find it, it's at the top, just under my profile name. Please vote on that poll. I like to know the thoughts of my readers.**

Blu practically crash landed in front of Rafael's tree, exhausted from keeping ahead of Jewel, whom he'd lost about three minutes ago. Still recovering from shortness of breathe, he was jumped by Rafael's seventeen kids. They performed the usual forms of torture: jumping on him, pulling his wings, yanking feathers.

"Hey, how come the girl's not here?" one of the female chicks asked.

"Yeah, where's your red girlfriend?" a male said.

"She's not my—" Blu tried to say.

"Or your blue one?" said another.

"Yeah it's no fun if you're the only one!" The group of toucans broke into a chorus of agreement.

"Kids, not right now! Rafael!"

Rafael jumped out of the hollow and flew down to the group of eighteen birds. "Kids! get off of him before I call your mother!" The entire army of his kids practically exploded off of Blu. _Yeesh, __Blu. __This __better __not __become __routine. __You__'__re __making __this __happen __more __often. _He landed and helped Blu to his feet. "You okay, amigo?"

"No! Jewel's been chasing me, trying to get me to mate with her. Scarla was even trying to help her. I got Antonio to distract her."

Rafael opened his beak to say something, but Eva butted in. Apparently, she'd been listening to all that. "You didn't try reasoning with her, did you?"

Blu cringed in fear. As a female, she'd probably feel inclined to help Jewel in her chase. "Y-yeah."

"I'll tell you right now, when a girl's in heat, that won't work. Isn't that right, Rafael?"

Rafael looked at Blu. "She's right, Blu." Completely realizing that his mate had spoken, he turned to her. "E-Eva? You're not going to help Jewel, are you?"

"I won't. Jewel asked me not to anyway."

_So __Jewel __knew? _Blu thought.

Eva continued. "Like I said, reasoning doesn't work. You need to use force. Hey, kids!" Each of her chicks came immediately at her request. They flapped in front of the hollow looking unsure of what they'd done wrong. "How would you like to 'play' with someone?"

"You mean beat them up?" one chick asked.

"Attack?" another asked.

"Yes," Eva answered to both questions.

All the chicks looked around at each other unsurely. If they said 'yes' they'd be punished, right? On the other hand, they really needed to fulfill their urge. One of them spoke up. "What if we do?"

Blu and Rafael watched as she managed to actually reason with her chicks. _She __needs __to __teach __me __how __to __do __that, _both Blu and Rafael thought.

"Nothing. I'll let you. As long as you don't pull any feathers." To this, all of her chicks looked at each other excitedly.

"Okay! Who is it?" one chick said.

"Jewel, his"—Eva pointed at Blu—"girlfriend."

"Really?" The chicks were getting more excited about being aloud to attack someone.

"That's right. Now, we really need you to keep her away from him," Eva answered, still pointing at Blu. "And don't pull any feathers when she gets here, alright?"

"There you are, Blu!" Blu jumped at Jewel's voice. He turned to see her on the ground a few feet away from him. He quickly backed away.

"Speak of the devil," Eva said. She motioned with her wing, signaling for her kids to go ahead. They all dove after her. Four of them tackled her to the ground, while eight split up so that four pinned either of her wings to the ground. The remaining five of them floated above them as back up. Jewel squirmed, yelling at them to get off. This, of course, was futile.

Blu flew off again to get as far away from her as possible. He heard Rafael yell, "Hopefully, this'll only last a week!"

...

Blu had become hungry. As he ate a papaya, he thought about earlier. _ONLY __a __week? __So __it __can __last __longer? __Ugh, __I __really __hope __it __doesn__'__t. _His thoughts turned to Rafael's kids. _I __never __thought __I__'__d __be __grateful __for __them. __But __how __long __can __they __keep __her __there?_

* * *

><p>A division of toucan chicks walked on the forest floor. Jewel had miraculously gotten away from them...<p>

"I can't believe it. There were seventeen of us and she got away." Carlos said, annoyed by their failure in what they do best.

"Hey, you're the one who got off her wing and _let _her go." Manuel argued.

"I needed a break from standing on her wings. I wanted to pull," Carlos defended. It was very rare the any of the chicks argued with each other.

"Guys, fighting isn't going to help us find her faster," Sofia pointed out.

As much as they didn't want admit that a girl was right, they had to. Carlos and Manuel sighed and said in an annoyed tone, "Fine."

Sofia smiled. "It's a good thing I came with you two."

"Hey, isn't that Nico and Pedro?" Manuel asked, completely ignoring what she said. From their angle, all they could see were Nico and Pedro's heads They were lying down, looking up at something, intimidated. Since there was some tall grass in the way covering their bodies, they couldn't see what. They kept walking to find out.

As they got closer, they could hear Jewel's voice. "Why were you two watching me take a bath?" She sounded angry.

Carlos gasped. "It's her! Come on, we have to get her now!" he whispered.

"Hold on, Carlos. Not yet." Manuel said, holding Carlos's shoulder.

"What do you mean 'not yet'? She's right there."

"Manuel's right. We can't hold her down by ourselves. We need the others,"

Carlos let out an irritated breath. She was right... again.

They continued listening as they watched through the slits formed by the thick grass. Jewel stood with a foot on either Nico or Pedro, trying to prevent their escape. "Answer me!" she ordered.

"W-We were just about to take a bath, but you were here," Pedro answered.

"Then why were you watching?"

"B-because... um..."

Nico finished for him. "Because, we... We were _captivated_ by your beauty. R-right Pedro?"

"Y-yeah." They were trying to sweet-talk her into letting them go.

She smiled. "Thanks, but I only accept compliments from Blu."

"Sp-Speaking of which, where is Blu?" Pedro asked.

"He ran off somewhere."

"What? Did you two get into a fight or somethin'?" he asked.

"No, of course not. He's just afraid to mate with me." —Mischievous smirks shot across Nico and Pedro's faces. They now knew why he'd flown off. They had no longer had any intent of escaping from Jewel. Torturing Blu would probably be more fun than a samba party on Carnival.—"I don't know why, since it'll feel really, _really _good."

"Speak no further, Jewel. We'll help you," Nico said.

"Really?" Jewel asked, surprised that males would willingly assist her in the chase.

"Yeah, sure. Just think of it as our apology for peepin' on you," Pedro answered. Jewel took her feet off of them, and they flew off.

"Great, now we have to deal with all three of them," Manuel said. Normally, it excited him to be able to torture more than one person, but his mother scared him.

"So?" Carlos asked.

"'So'?" Manuel retorted. "Mom wants us to hold her back, and now Nico an Pedro are with her. We could barely hold Jewel down with all of us, so how are we supposed to hold all three of them? What do you think mom will do if she mates with Blu?"

"What does it mean to mate, anyway?" Sofia asked.

Both Manuel and Carlos looked at her. Come to think of it, they weren't entirely sure what it really meant to mate. They knew that they're parents were mates, but not what it meant _to_ mate. Obviously, it had something to with becoming mates, but what was so bad about it? Why would Blu try to avoid this? The naive nature of children kept them wondering.

They threw the question aside and set off to gather all their siblings.

* * *

><p>Blu slept at the base of a tree somewhere hopefully far away where Jewel couldn't find him. He woke up to her voice. "There you are again, Blu." <em>Cheese <em>_and __sprinkles! How did she find me?, _he thought. He looked up and saw Jewel smiling him. He immediately took off from where he had slept. It was stupid of him to let his guard down.

Blu looked back at her for only a second before everything went black.

...

Blu woke up to find himself in a river with Jewel. For some reason, Nico and Pedro were sleeping on the other side of the river.

**Before I begin the after-chapter author's note, here's my sick idea I mentioned in the last chapter. I forgot that some of you don't have accounts and wouldn't be able to PM me:**

**Here's my idea. Have you ever seen "School Days"? It's a stupid (though for some reason I kept watching it) 13-episode anime. In case you don't feel like looking for a synopsis online, here's mine (please note that this based off memory, so I've forgotten the names): Makoto is a high school student who has a crush on Kotonoha (Kotonoha is shy and isn't very open to guys.) . His friend, Sekai, who happens to like him (though that's not revealed until a later episode), finds out and decides to help him. Sekai succeeds in helping him, but this is where it all goes down hill. Makoto discovers that it's tiring to have a girlfriend and figures out that he likes Sekai more. He has sex with her and they begin dating secretly. Makoto doesn't know how to break the news to Kotonoha however. Eventually, Makoto begins going around sleeping with pretty much every girl in his class. (I'm guessing at least eight. He had a foursome.) Sekai also eventually finds out (or rather assumes) that she's pregnant with his child. Everybody stops talking to Makoto. Not much later, in winter, nobody will pick up their phone, except Sekai, who's the only one who will talk to him and whom he doesn't want to be with (WTF?) He runs into Kotonoha, who still loves him, and he declares his love for her (WTF!) Events eventually lead to them kissing passionately in front of Sekai and Sekai runs off. While Kotonoha is out getting groceries, Sekai comes over (I forgot why). Finally figuring out how much of an asshole Makoto is, she ruthlessly kills him and runs off again. Kotonoha comes home to discover the body and cuts off the head (though that second part isn't shown). She calls Sekai over to the top of the school and kills her to discover that she isn't pregnant at all.**

**So...yeeeah... Don't bother asking me how I came across this, because I honestly don't know. Also, there are no sex scenes. The most you see is them under the blanket with nothing actually happening.**

**Now for the actual idea: I was thinking of taking the plot of this and replacing everybody with Rio characters. As much as it disgusts me and I hate to say so, I think I could get some laughs out of this, because everybody would be completely out of character, especially Blu(Makoto).**

**There is however one HUGE complication. Since it takes place in school and cell phones play a role in it, I'm not entirely sure how to work around that. It would also need a lot of OC's. Maybe I could get permission from other authors to use their female OC's (if anybody has any, since males are the most common OC), since they probably already have established characteristics.**

**I already have five female characters: Scarla, Jewel, Eva, Alice, and Chloe.*throws up from sudden imagination of what it would look like between Blu and the latter two***

**Scarla and Jewel would be Kotonoha and Sekai if this ever gets made. I'm not sure which would be which though. **

**If any of you want to comment on this, say something about the chapter too. Otherwise, send a PM. If you want to discuss this, send a PM. I don't want to discuss the idea here.**

**Also, be sure to vote on that poll.**

**To : If you'd like to talk about it, send a PM.**

**To Hondurazz: I believe it was called "The Chase" by someone who's name I can't remember even though I could just look up the story, but I can't seem to find it. I also recall another story by... Who was it? ARSET27, TheWittySmartArse, or SmartA55esUnite? Lol. Sorry, I just loved the idea. I felt less guilty with the knowledge that you'd been inspired by someone else. I have read "The Chase" even though it was incredibly difficult for obvious reasons. I just had to do my own take on it, though you could probably do better. My 3DS is blue.**

**To Zero2o1o: True...**

**To Lunyk: Oh, OK. I meant that "In Heat" could go for a few more chapters.**

**To NoRemorse81: It's good to see that you're excited for each chapter.**

**To C.A.M.z: Nop, nope, nope, nope. I LOL'd at the last part of that comment.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Tell me what you think of the idea.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: Wait, what? I'm confused by your comment. Please clarify.**

**To OmarBarria: Good to see that you're excited.**

**To Ghostofinu: Thanks.**


	13. In Heat Part 3

Blu felt water all over the lower half of his body. The cool feeling was pleasant and comfortable. He lazily opened his eyes and shut them tight again due to the bright rays of the sun. While they were closed, he felt a stream of water drop onto and flow down his face. Then, he felt a pleasant tickling feeling on his face, as if someone was running their beak down his face feathers. _Wait..._

His eyes shot open to be greeted by Jewel's face very close to his. Jewel noticed and said, "Oh, good, you're finally awake."

_Oh __my __goodness! __What __happened __and __what __did __she __do __to __me __while __I __was __out? _"J-Jewel? Did... Did you...?"

* * *

><p>During this, Pedro woke up at the base of a tree on the other side of the river. He lazily opened his eyes to the sound of Blu and Jewel talking. When he remembered that Nico was right next to him, he nudged him with his wing. "Yo, Nico. Wake up. He's awake."<p>

"Who turned off the music?" Nico randomly asked in his sleep.

Pedro nudged harder. "Nico! Wake up! You're going to miss it!"

Nico stopped talking, but still wouldn't wake up. Pedro took the bottle cap off of Nico's head. That did the trick. Nico's eyes darted open as he jumped to his feet. "Alright, who touched the bottle cap?" he asked angrily, looking around. When he saw Pedro holding up his cap, he snatched it from him. "Give me that! Why'd you wake me up?" Pedro pointed over to Blu and Jewel, and Nico immediately calmed down.

* * *

><p>"No, of course not, Blu. I wouldn't want to do it if you can't feel it too," Jewel answered while running a wingtip down his chest.<p>

_Thank __you!_ Blu thought, incredibly relieved that Jewel hadn't raped him in his sleep. He realized how much his head hurt and asked "Jewel, what happened?" Had his head not been killing him and had Jewel not been keeping a foot on his stomach, he would have bolted by now, rather than ask questions.

"You flew into a tree. I was so worried about you," she said in that same soothing voice she had spoken in later. "You were bleeding a little and you're feathers were a bit messed up, but I cleaned you up a bit in this river."

For a second, Blu considered thanking her, but thought she would probably misinterpret this as him agreeing to mate with her. This didn't really matter anyway, since she then asked him, "So... do you want to _thank _me?"

Blu's face dropped at this question. "Jewel, I'm not going to mate with you."

"Don't be ridiculous, Blu. Of course you want to," she argued, calmly rubbing the side of his beak with her wing.

"Look, while I'll admit that it's getting harder to say 'no', I'm not doing it." He was really having a hard time resisting. He liked the way she was whispering everything sweetly to him. It didn't help that she was running a wingtip across his chest.

Jewel kept her smile as she asked him, "Blu, why do you hate me?"

Blu knew what she was trying to do: she was trying to make him feel bad. "I don't hate you," he retorted. "I lo—" He cut himself off, knowing that saying that would only worsen the situation. "I just don't want to do it if you're like this."

"So you would do it if I wasn't like this?"

Blu blushed. At this point, he would probably consider it. "Well, I... I um..." He heard Nico and Pedro laughing behind her. He moved his head to see them. "Nico! Pedro!" he called. "You two gotta help me!"

Nico stopped laughing to say, "Give us one good reason too."

"What? But you're guys!"

"So? It's more fun to watch you struggle with her," Pedro replied.

"That's why they're here," Jewel cut in. "But the moment we start, they'll leave,"—she looked back at Nico and Pedro—"right?" _What __makes __you __think __that __we__'__ll __do __it __anyway? _Blu thought.

"Yeah, of course, Jewel," Pedro assured. He was truthful; he and Nico had no intention of watching them mate. They were there only so they could watch Jewel torture Blu the way she was doing now.

Jewel turned back to Blu and said, "I think you just need a little convincing."

"Convincing? What are you talking a—" Jewel interrupted him by locking her beak with his, kissing him passionately. The kiss was so passionate, Blu couldn't react the way he wanted to. He kissed back, subconsciously accepting to mate with Jewel.

"Seriously? That's it?" Pedro asked nobody in particular.

"Hold on, hold on, there might be more." _Hopefully. __That __was __disappointing._

"There she is! Get her! You four, get Nico and Pedro!" a childish voice suddenly commanded.

Blu snapped back into reality, realizing what had almost happened when Jewel was tackled off of him by thirteen of Rafael's chicks. He looked around and saw them covering as much of her body as they could to keep her pinned this time. Two chicks each kept Nico and Pedro pinned to the ground. Since each chick was about the size of them, this was much easier.

"Hey!" one chick called for Blu. Blu looked at him. "I am not getting in trouble because of you! Get out of here now!"

Blu immediately got out of the water and shook himself dry, thus hurting his head more. Once he thought he had gotten a sufficient amount of water out of the bottom half of his feathers, he took off, mentally thanking the chicks for their help.

He thought of the next place he could go. He could go to Túlio or Linda, but the hotel she was in was further away, and he really needed a place to rest that wasn't in the forest.

...

When he reached the Conservation Center, he flew around to each window, frantically trying to locate Túlio. When he spotted him, he excitedly tapped the glass multiple times. Túlio quickly noticed and came to the window and opened it to let Blu in.

"Hey, Blu. What are doing here? Where's Jewel?" Túlio asked as Blu rummaged through a drawer for something to write with.

When he found a pencil, he grabbed it with his beak and ran to a nearby notepad. He grabbed the pencil with his foot and wrote, "HELP! JEWEL IS TRYING TO MATE WITH ME!"

Without a word, Túlio gently picked Blu up and tossed him outside, shutting the window behind him. Shocked, Blu turned around and saw Túlio writing something on the notepad. When finished, he held the notepad to the window for a few seconds. It read, "I'm not helping you. I've been waiting for you two to mate for weeks. Tell me how it goes." Túlio put the notepad down and got back to work.

"I should have known that he wouldn't help me!" Blu yelled at himself, flying in the direction of Linda's hotel.

...

Linda excitedly opened the window to let Blu in, forgetting to close it.

"Hey, Blu!" she greeted happily. "What are you doing here? It's only been, like, three days," she said. Blu, however, wasn't paying attention; he was struggling to open the laptop. Linda assisted him, and he swiftly typed in the password for the laptop. He was thankful for being able to type it in accurately the first try. He opened Microsoft Word and typed, "HELP ME! JEWEL IS TRYING TO M"

"Oh, hey Jewel," Linda said. Blu's heart jumped at that name, but at the same time, he felt somewhat excited. He shook that feeling off and turned around to be tackled by Jewel.

"Oh, I knew I'd seen you fly over here," Jewel said as she hugged him.

_HOW? __How __did __she __get __away __from __them __AGAIN __and __find __me? __Why __is __it __that __fate __conspires __against __me?_

Jewel planted a foot on Blu's stomach again and started kissing him. No matter how many times she pushed him onto his back, he found that every fall backwards was worth it for the kiss. _Ugh, __what __am __I __thinking? _He started hitting the desk with his wing to signal for Linda to help him.

Linda got the message and lightly grabbed Jewel to pick her up. Jewel responded by nipping her, not too hard, but just enough to startle her into letting go.

The single second Linda had to hold Jewel was enough for Blu to get out of the room and back outside.

_Stupid, __stupid, __stupid. __I __should __have __had __her __close __the __window __first. __I __was __so __close. __I __had __the __perfect __place __to __hide __until __this __whole __thing __blows __over. __Now __I __have __to __find __somewhere __else __to __hide. __In __the __city? __No, __too __many __people. __It __would __be __safer __in __the __jungle. __(When __did __I __start __thinking __that?) __But __where __in __the __jungle? __It__'__s __like __no __matter __how __far __I __fly, __Jewel __can __somehow __keep __a __few __feet __behind __me. __I __need __somewhere __that__'__s __somewhat __familiar __to __me __that __she __wouldn__'__t __check... __But __she__'__s __more __familiar __with __it __than __I __am. __Where __wouldn__'__t __she __check?_

Blu could only think of one place. It was the place that Jewel had taken him—or he had taken her—two weeks ago: Jewel's old home. Why would she ever check a place that saddens her?

**Sorry this took so long, guys. I've been playing Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 and I just got the last trophy, so I thought that this was the perfect time to write this chapter.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: Here it is.**

**To OmarBarria: I know**

**To Ghostofinu: Not quite yet in the literal sense.**

**To Hondurazz: Oh yeah, that's right. You have him to help you. Exactly what role does he play in the writing of your story?**

**To Sierra strike: Some of them really don't, but they are fun to watch.**

**To GhostShadow6661: Here you go.**

**To NoRemorse81: Here you go**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Well, I'm not the one who came up with that plot. My idea is just to replace the characters of School Days with Rio characters then rework the plot to work with them.**

**To Lunyk: Yeah, Nico and Pedro don't really do much. I just wanted to show what I would have them do in this situation.**

**To Ton1546: Do I really? Thanks!**

**To C.A.M.z: Tranquilizer? lol, no. Nico and Pedro aren't pervs in this story. They only want to see Blu struggle with Jewel. Nico and Pedro actually were sleeping, waiting for Blu to wake up.**

**To Zero2o1o: I honestly don't know how I would feel in this sort of situation. If I was older (duh), in the mood for it, and I could tell she really wanted it, I would probably do it. Maybe.**

**To Dimitri The Soviet Spinx Macaw: I don't believe there's such a thing as a Spinx Macaw. I think you meant Spix's Macaw**

**To Lunyk Stormdragon: Good for you!**


	14. To Make You Happy

The toucan chicks argued again, pushing blame from one to the other, like pieces of a sliding puzzle, so that only one was innocent.

"It was NOT my fault!" Carlos argued.

"Is too!" Manuel retorted.

"It's your fault too!" Luana accused, turning to Laura.

"No, you let her go!" Laura argued back.

With out any sort of proof, they were getting no where with the argument.

* * *

><p>Blu landed on the branch of a tree located in the secluded and seemingly lifeless area of the forest near where he remembered Jewel's home was. He was absolutely exhausted from evading capture by Jewel multiple times. His head was killing him from crashing into the tree, as Jewel had explained.<p>

"Ugh... I hope this blows over soon," he said aloud to himself. He didn't know how much more he could take. While he was glad to know that Jewel loved him enough to chase after him, it was really taking a toll on him.

He flew to the next tree and paused for a few seconds to catch his breathe. He repeated this the rest of the way to Jewel's old tree.

About twenty trees later, he reached what he was pretty sure was the right tree. As a matter of fact, he was more than sure. That was odd... Even though he had only been here once before, he was absolutely sure that this was the place. He walked inside. The place hadn't changed at all since the time he and Jewel had come two weeks ago; it was just as empty and lifeless as the rest of the jungle around the tree. Blu had to wonder, why was this particular area so empty? It couldn't be that everybody just happened to be away at the moment; there wasn't a sign of any other birds two weeks ago either.

He decided to check any hollows near the tree for signs of life. None in the first... or the second... the third... or any trees after.

Then, he came to Jewel's friend's tree. He stopped here. He stared into the gaping hollow for a while before walking in. This hollow hadn't been disturbed either, evident by the old pile of twigs in the middle.

Despite the ominous atmosphere of this section of the forest, this particular hollow seemed to comfort him. What was this odd sense of security that this place gave him?

Despite feeling safe from Jewel, he kind of wished that she could be there with him. He wanted to be in her presence again. But as long as she was in the state she was currently in, they would be kept apart, unless, of course, Jewel happened to find him again, but he knew she wouldn't. That made him half glad and half sad.

Blu stepped outside and looked in the direction of Jewel's old home. He remembered what Jewel had told him about her parents. He suddenly felt lonely; he had never really known his family. Were they good people or not? He was sure that Jewel's were, because she had cried over them being gone.

Jewel... she was his only family aside from Linda.

Family... It was plainly obvious Jewel wanted one... with him. To be honest, he now wanted a family with her too—to fill that gap in their relationship. He wanted to be her mate. And if that was what it would take to make her happy... If she happened to ask him again to mate with her, he would do it—not for the pleasure he was sure to get out of it, but for her.

But for right now, that would have to wait for later. He suddenly realized that it was starting to get dark. He went outside to get something to eat. Since no one else was around, this wasn't difficult; fruit was abundant in this area because of that.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Jewel was chowing down on a mango back home. Though she was frustrated that she had failed in getting Blu to mate with her, she kept a calm, smug smile. She chuckled at her own failure. It amused her that though she had looked high and low—everywhere (exaggeration)—she couldn't find him.<p>

She finished the mango. _It__'__s __okay, __Blu. __You__'__re __just __raising __my __excitement __for __when __it __actually __happens. __We__'__re __going __to __have __the __time __of __our __lives __tomorrow, _Jewel thought before lying down and drifting to sleep. She went to sleep earlier than usual to replenish as much energy she would need to finally capture Blu.

* * *

><p>The toucan chicks now stood a few meters away from their home, unsure who should go first. While they debated on who should be the one to break the news, their mother poked her head out of the hollow to see what the noise was. All the chicks froze in place.<p>

"Hello, kids. How'd it go?" Eva asked. The silence that proceeded told her everything she needed to know. She dropped her smile. "Get in here... all of you."

...

Rafael watched as Eva argued with all seventeen chicks at once. He admired her ability to do this.

"But mom, it wasn't my fault," each little toucan used some variation of, trying to avoid punishment.

"I don't care whose fault it is. You're a group, so you're all in trouble."

A loud "Aaaaaaaaaw" followed.

"Now go to sleep. You'd better hope that they haven't mated yet."

Curiosity got the better of Manuel. "What's the big deal, anyway? What does it mean to mate?"

Eva blushed and looked to Rafael for assistance, hoping he could provide a G-rated explanation that wouldn't cause further questioning. Unfortunately for her, Rafael started pretending to sleep right before she looked at him. She looked back at her chicks and said, "I'll tell you when you're older. Good night."

...

The next morning, Jewel got up and immediately started looking for Blu. She went to Scarla and asked if she had seen him. "No, I was to busy with Antonio," was her answer. She had to tell Jewel multiple times that it wasn't what she was thinking before she laid off her accusations. She checked with Rafael and Eva, whose chicks tried to restrain her again. This gave Rafael and Eva a second look at how Jewel escaped them. Eva became more understanding afterward.

After ten straight hours of flying around to find Blu, Jewel decided to take a nap in an empty hollow.

* * *

><p>Blu barely did anything that day; he just laid there, thinking about Jewel, longing for her company, mostly wondering if she would ask him to mate with her after she stopped chasing him. He wondered what it would be like to be a father. To have two or three chicks, as opposed to Rafael and Eva's eighteen.<p>

Knowing he couldn't do much, he slept in the hollow most of the day, enjoying the sense of security he had here, only going out to get food.

* * *

><p>Jewel woke up from her nap two hours later, but not to look for Blu... in the sense of trying to mate with him.<p>

She looked around, taking in her surroundings. "Wait... This isn't our hollow. Why am I here?" She noticed that Blu wasn't with her. "Where's Blu? Outside, maybe?"

She checked around the tree she had slept in. No sight of Blu. She began to worry and flew off toward Rafael's tree.

...

Jewel took caution when approaching his tree, so as not to rouse a certain group of seventeen chicks that could be lurking about, just waiting to pounce her.

When Rafael saw her, he just said, "Oh... Hey, Jewel. I told you earlier that I haven't seen Blu."

"What? When did you tell me that?" Jewel asked.

"You don't remember that?"

"No, I don't."

"Wow, that was fast," Rafael muttered before saying, "You don't remember anything, huh? Well, you were chasing Blu, trying to get him to mate with you."

"Oh..." Jewel said in a matter that suggested that she had completely forgotten about that. "Did... Did he do it?" Why did she find herself hoping that he would say 'yes'?

"I don't know. I've been having my kids keep you away from him, so I don't think so. They gave up earlier though."

"Well... Have you seen Blu lately?"

"Not since yesterday."

"Do you have any idea where he would be?"

"I would suggest going home. He's bound to go back there eventually."

"Okay, thanks," Jewel said before heading home.

* * *

><p>Blu woke up from his slumber to some odd feeling. Something was calling him. Not literally, but he felt as if he had to go somewhere: home. He tried to shake off this ridiculous feeling, not wanting to get pinned down by Jewel again.<p>

After five minutes, though, he couldn't take it anymore. He felt that he couldn't rest until he had at least gone home once.

...

When he reached his hollow, he was surprised to see Jewel laying on one side of the hollow.

Jewel, feeling that someone was looking at her, opened her eyes to see Blu.

For some reason, Blu froze in place, as if something restricted him from escaping.

Jewel smiled. "Hi, Blu."

Blu found it odd that Jewel hadn't gotten up to tackle him to the floor yet. "H-Hi, Jewel," he replied.

Jewel slowly got up. Again, Blu didn't move. He didn't feel a need to flee. Jewel spoke. "Rafael told me that I was chasing you..."

Blu chuckled nervously. "Yeah... Yeah, you were." _After just one day, she stopped? Thank you!_

"And..."

"And what, Jewel?"

"Did we... Did we mate?"

"Umm... no, but we almost did at one point."

"Oh... Good..."

Blu noticed the insincerity in her voice. "What's wrong Jewel?"

"Nothing, nothing. I guess I just kind of hoped a little that we did."

So that was it. She still had her mind on mating with him, but she wasn't like how she was earlier; she was... sober, in a sense. The sadness he sensed in her previous statement and the insincerity of the sentence before stung him. He looked on at her sadly. He couldn't see her like this. He couldn't handle another guilt trip. He made up his mind.

"Jewel... If... If you really want me to, then... I will."

Jewel looked at him in shock. Did he really just say that? "Really, Blu?"

Blu walked up to her, took her wings in his, and smiled. "Will it make you happy?"

Jewel nodded, now donning a smile

"Then of course I will, Jewel. That's all I need." He dropped his smile. "But what if I'm not a good father?"

"Blu, I don't need a family to be happy. I just want to be your mate," she said sweetly to him. _Just __in __case, __should __we __use __a __leaf? __No, __it__'__s __our __first __time. __That __would __ruin __how __special __it i__s._

Blu had no such thought, however, of using a leaf to prevent pregnancy. He wanted a family with her.

"I want to be your mate, too, Jewel. I've wanted to for a while."

Jewel smiled. "I love you, Blu."

"I love you, Jewel," Blu said back.

Starting with a soft kiss, they proceeded to consummate their relationship, becoming mates, thus sealing the eternal bond between lovers.

...

Blu and Jewel panted next to each other, amazed by what they had just done. They both wanted to recall the entire thing, but their refractory periods prevented this.

They stared deeply into each other's eyes. They nuzzled beaks.

"Blu... Thank you."

"You're welcome, Jewel," Blu said with a smile.

"I've wanted that for more than two weeks," Jewel admitted.

"Really?"

"Yeah, ever since you saved me."

"So those, uh, hints?"

"Mm-hm." She confirmed his suspicion. Jewel cuddled with his body. "I love you, Blu."

"I love you too, Jewel. Forever," Blu said, draping a wing over her.

The two lovebirds, now mates, slept very peacefully that night, cuddling to keep each other warm.

...

The next morning, Jewel woke up first to see a smile on Blu's still sleeping face. She smiled back and got up. She stretched for bit and looked outside. She thought about getting breakfast this morning as Blu's reward for last night, but—

"Aagh!" she wanted to yell, but somehow kept it down to more of a suppressed coughing sound to not wake Blu. She put a wing on her stomach in a vain attempt to ease the sudden pain. Her heart skipped a beat, however, when she felt something... One, two, three ever so faint lumps... in her stomach. She wanted to deny it all she could, but she couldn't escape the fact that she was... pregnant.

Now that she had been satisfied by Blu, she could think straight (what she thought was straight) of the situation. _No... __I __can__'__t __be! __Why __didn__'__t __I...? __Why __didn__'__t__I?_

She was becoming increasingly frustrated with her decision to not use a leaf.

_How __could __I __be __so __selfish! __He __mated __with __me, __because __I... __I __practically __made __him!_

She looked back at Blu. _I__'__m __sorry... _she thought before taking off.

...

Eyes still closed, Blu blushed as he thought about the previous night. His happiness was short-lived, for there was a strange emptiness in his heart; something was missing. He opened his eyes and saw why and what.

**I'm pretty sure that birds don't get pregnant THAT fast, but for the sake of plot convenience, just pretend that they do.**

**To Zero2o1o: He sure is. At that moment, he accepted mating with Jewel.**

**To Ghostofinu: This is late, but: Good luck.**

**To Dimitri The Soviet Spix Macaw: Oh.**

**To Lunyk Stormdragon: Yes, it is. Yeah, I haven't read any stories in which Tulio actually helps Jewel in such a manner.**

**To Hondurazz: I'm imagining that Jewel pays attention to which direction Blu is flying, predicts where he's going based on that, gets away from the chicks, and flies in the direction he flies until she spots him. In the situation where Tulio throws Blu out, Jewel had plenty of time to catch up and spot him, so that she could follow him.**

**To Ghostshadow6661: I will**

**To No-Remorse81: That's understandable. Well, I guess that I couldn't have timed this chapter any better. Any other guy, no I don't think they would resist. But this is Blu. He has his own morals and he's really shy.**

**To Ton1546: I do this, so that I can answer questions of those who don't have accounts. I've also used this to address multi-posting. I will.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: I used "raped", because I feel that it better conveys the severity of the situation and how close Blu was to being so. I don't remember ever specifically stating that it would end this chapter, but it did anyway.**

**To Sierra strike: Not to be rude, but wtf are you talking about? lol**

**To Lazy Reviewer: I sure hope I do. I'll start it when I figure out a way to rework the plot to work with birds and if/when I get permission from The Scarlet Macaw to use Ashley. As for you're question, (I'm pulling this out of my own ass) it's just something that his parents gave him as a chick, or something like that.**


	15. Night of Passion

**HA! I bet you guys actually thought I wouldn't do it, huh? To be honest, I've intended to write a lemon since the very beginning. : P**

**To those who noticed that two chapters were uploaded, congratulations. You get to read my first lemon. Actually, it's my second. You can read my first in my deleted scenes thing. Just go to my profile and click on it.**

**This obviously takes place around the end of chapter 14. Please comment on this separately from the chapter "Why? Where?"**

**If you are offended by sexual content of any kind, please skip to the next chapter.**

Blu's beak locked with Jewel's, and they started a soft kiss. They both thought it more appropriately fit the mood. Their tongues slowly and gently touched each other as Blu wrapped his wings around Jewel in a gentle embrace. Jewel followed suit. She was so glad that Blu had finally agreed to mate with her, to let her _feel _his love. This would be the perfect night for both of them.

The pleasure she would get out of this was not why she wanted to do this. She wanted this, because it would officially make them mates. That's what she's wanted for the past two weeks. The pleasure was just a bonus as far as she was concerned.

Blu's heart rate gradually sped up the longer they kissed. Jewel's tongue tasted like mangoes; it was delicious. He heard Jewel moan from the pleasure of the kiss and and kissed just a little harder. Their tongues danced in the fiery passion between them, smoothly rubbing against each other.

Jewel started to rub his body with her wings sensually. Blu imitated this action quite well, considering that it was him. He enjoyed the feeling of Jewel's enticingly soft plumage. She rubbed his back and his tail, which made Blu's spine tingle in excitement. She also slowly moved a wing down the length of his body to where his sensitive spot was, but stopped before she could reach it, teasing him.

Blu took his beak off of Jewel's and started moving it down. He dug his beak into her feathers and started preening them. He licked her as he did this. After about ten seconds, he playfully and lightly bit her neck. She looked up from the sensation this gave her.

They spent the next two minutes caressing each other's feathers before Blu fell on his back. They didn't allow this to interrupt them, though. They added more touching, by allowing their feet to play with each other. It tickled them.

After a decent amount of time of trying to ignite each other's lust for the other, Jewel lifted her face away from Blu's. "You ready?" she asked him seductively.

"How could I say 'no'?" Blu responded with a dreamy smile.

Jewel got off of him and stood up. She turned away from him and moved her tail to the side. She stared at him with one seductive eye, and Blu blushed. He remembered the way the two cockatiels were mating in the video he accidentally went to on Linda's laptop. _So __that__'__s __how __she __wants __it._

He walked up behind her. Jewel didn't take her eye off of him for a second. Blu gently placed a foot on her lower back and carefully stepped up. He was a little afraid that he would hurt her, but was relieved that he didn't.

Jewel bent over a little, so that Blu could get better balance and so that he would have more ease getting his tail under hers.

Blu turned a little to the side and wrapped his tail underneath hers. When their cloacae touched, passion sparked between them. Her cloaca was warm... soft..., Blu observed. Of course, Blu had his concerns for Jewel. "Are you comfortable, Jewel?" he asked her considerately.

She looked back at him. "Of course, Blu," she said with a smile. There was no better feeling for her than the one she got from losing her virginity to the one she loved.

Blu smiled back at her lovingly. He moved his hips left once. That one movement felt amazing; it was a tickling feeling that they wanted to feel over and over again, and they would. He started to repeat the motion, swaying his hips from side to side.

As Blu slid his cloaca across hers, Jewel couldn't help but let out a loud moan. "Mmmmm..."

That moan told Blu he was doing a good job, so he quickened his pace. Jewel moaned more in response. "Uhn... Bluuuu, that... feels so... Aaah!" As much as she wanted to tell Blu how it felt for him to do this to her, his constant thrusting from left to right kept interrupting her.

Blu understood perfectly. He could pretty much feel everything she felt, every single ecstasy-inducing slide across her smooth cloaca. It was difficult to describe. It was the kind of feeling that one desperately wished would never end, knowing that it would have to eventually.

Jewel started moaning more for him. Each moan encouraged Blu to move faster and faster. He just kept on going, not stopping for anything.

Jewel's legs were starting to get tired from carrying him on his back. Besides, she desperately wanted to see him as he made love to her. "Bluuu..." she moaned. "Hold on. I... I need to... see yooou," she finished in between pants.

Blu found difficulty in getting off of Jewel at first, but figured he could get more pleasure out of seeing her beautiful face. He obeyed her whim and stepped off of her for a second.

Jewel immediately lied down on her back and Blu reconnected their cloacae, propping himself up with his wings. He started to slide left and right again, once again indulging himself along with Jewel in the sensation this gave both of them. He decided to change it up after a while and started sliding his cloaca up and down and against hers. The new sensation created by this change of pace stimulated them even more. They were almost there.

When Blu got tired of that, he started to thrust his cloaca into Jewel's. She moaned the loudest to this. She wrapped her wings around Blu and started calling his name some more. "Blu! Blu! Yes! That feels... SO GOOD!"

Blu reached his maximum thrusting speed. He was currently going as fast as his body would allow. He was panting heavily from both exhaustion and excitement. He had been keeping his eyes open to gaze at his horny mate, listening to and enjoying each and every moan that escaped her beak.

All the pleasure was becoming unbearable for Jewel; she didn't know how much longer she could hold back her orgasm. She desperately wanted to contain it for as long as possible, but each thrust or slide that Blu made chipped away at her ability to do so.

Then Blu started to purr her name. "Jewel... Jewel... Jewel..."

That was the last straw for Jewel. She moved her wings up to Blu head and pulled it down to hers, forcing him into a kiss as she reached her orgasm.

The kiss set off a volcano in Blu: one of passion, lust, and love. His entire body tensed up as he reached his own orgasm. THIS was the very definition of indescribable, as was indescribable the definition of what he felt for the next few seconds: All the muscles in his body contracted at once, forcing his body to jerk uncontrollably. His eyes shut tight; it was impossible to keep them open through this outburst of pure ecstasy and love. Nothing else during sex could compare to this sensation. He was at the height of his pleasure. Even so, he continued to rub his cloaca against Jewel just a little more, so he could milk this moment for all it was worth.

Breathing heavily, he got off of Jewel and lied down on his back. They panted to catch their breath.

They both tried to play back the entire thing in their head, but their refractory periods made it seem less appealing than it normally would be.

After catching her breath, Jewel looked at Blu who was already staring at her affectionately. They stared deeply into each other's eyes. They nuzzled beaks.

"Blu... Thank you."

"You're welcome, Jewel," Blu said with a smile.

"I've wanted that for more than two weeks," Jewel admitted.

"Really?"

"Yeah, ever since you saved me."

"So those, uh, hints?"

"Mm-hm." She confirmed his suspicion. Jewel cuddled with his body. "I love you, Blu."

"I love you too, Jewel. Forever," Blu said, draping a wing over her.

Jewel cuddled closer to Blu to feel the warmth of his body, now satisfied that they were mates. How long would that happiness last though?

**So, yeah, tell me what you think. I do have one question I'd like you to answer at the same time, though: Did you get even the slightest bit turned on?**


	16. Why? Where?

Blu's heart sank. Where was Jewel? Maybe outside... Blu quickly got up in a panic and went outside. He flew around the tree three times, thoroughly scanning for any sign of Jewel. She was nowhere to be found... Blu was about to have a heart attack. Where could she have gone?

Why? Why would she have flown off after last night? _Is __she...__Is __she __ashamed __to __have __mated __with __me? _No... Jewel wanted to mate with him more than anything in the world. That only strengthened the question: Why did she run off?

But then he thought, _Maybe __I__'__m __jumping __to __conclusions. __Yeah, __that__'__s __it! __She __probably __just __went __to __break __the __news __to __Scarla __or __something._

He took off and headed to Scarla's hollow. Denial wouldn't make things any better...

* * *

><p>Jewel rested in an empty hollow. The sudden pain in her stomach she had felt earlier had returned a few minutes ago. She chowed down on a mango to relieve herself of a craving for anything food she could get her hands (wings) on and to hopefully ease her pain.<p>

_Gah, __it __hurts __so __much... __Why __did __this __have __to __happen __to __me?__... I __have __to __keep __moving. __I __can__'__t __face __him __like __this._

* * *

><p>Blu landed inside of Scarla's hollow. His heart sunk again when he saw that Scarla was sleeping <em>peacefully<em> without any sign that Jewel had been there. Jealousy crept over him. _Why __is __it __that __you __get __to __have __a __peaceful __morning __and __I __don__'__t? _he thought selfishly.

But this wasn't the time for that. He shoved her hard with his wings. "Scarla, wake up!" Blu commanded.

Scarla's eyes shot open by the sudden disturbance. "Ah! Oh, hey, Blu. What do you—"

Blu cut her off, not wanting to waste any time. "Scarla, did Jewel come by here by any chance?"

"What? No, she's been chasing you hasn't she?"

Blu didn't answer her. He had wasted his time coming here, he thought. "Dang it!" he exclaimed angrily. He turned around to make his way back outside.

"Blu, wait!" Scarla yelled behind him.

Blu reluctantly obeyed, turning his head to look at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, concerned for both him and Jewel.

"I don't know where Jewel is!" he quickly explained with a sense of urgency. _Why __would __you __ask __such __a __stupid __question?_

"What? Why would she run off?" she asked. The volume of her voice escalated, knowing the seriousness of the situation.

"I don't know!" he answered. _Stop __asking __stupid __questions!_

"Stop yelling at me, Blu! Just tell me what happened yesterday."Scarla blurted out, becoming annoyed by his tone.

Blu didn't respond immediately. He calmed down for her before saying, "Okay... Last night, we... we mated."

Despite the currently serious atmosphere, Scarla couldn't help but blush at the sudden imagination of what that might look like. But then she remembered that Jewel had been in heat. Her blush faded as guilt flooded her mind. Was this all her fault? She was just trying to have some fun.

"Was... Was she in heat?" Scarla asked.

"No, she stopped chasing me." Blu was about to lose it. His impatience and annoyance from Scarla's insistence on him calming down were really starting to aggravate him. "I don't know why she would run off." He turned back to the hollow entrance. "I'm wasting my time here. I'm need to go find her," he said sternly.

"I'm going too. I'll go get those toucans and Antonio." Scarla said.

Blu looked back at her. He smiled lightly and nodded before taking off.

* * *

><p>Jewel had stopped on a branch to rest again. Her stomach pain had died down a bit, but it was still there.<p>

_Almost __there..._she thought, panting from the strain of flying with the added weight of still-developing eggs and a greater quantity of food than she usually ate. She needed a place to think that wouldn't trouble her.

* * *

><p>Scarla landed at the edge of Antonio's hollow. She ran in and shoved him, turning him over.<p>

Antonio's eyes lazily opened. He was surprised to see Scarla there looking over him with him on his back.

"Good morning, Scarla," he greeted.

"There's nothing good about it, Antonio!" Scarla said urgently.

"What, what's wrong?" he asked, getting up. Concern was laced in his words.

"I'll explain on the way. Come on."

"On the way to where?"

Scarla ran around to his back and started pushing him out of his own hollow. "It doesn't matter. Just go!"

"Alright, alright," Antonio said before flying out of his hollow with Scarla behind him.

There was a long, awkward silence before Antonio finally asked, "So where are we going?"

"We need to get Rafael."

"Who?" Antonio had never heard this name.

"He's a friend of Blu's"

"Oh. Why?" Antonio was dying to know why Scarla had woken him up and forced him out of his hollow.

"You remember Jewel?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, she's gone missing."

"What? Why?" He now understood why they were in such a rush.

"I don't know. Blu woke me up this morning and told me. We need to get as much help as we can in a short amount of time."

"Alright, I'll go get some friends of mine."

"That sounds good. See ya."

Antonio steered away from Scarla to go get more help.

...

As Scarla swiftly approached Rafael's hollow, she began to worry more and more for Blu and Jewel's well-being.

_What __the __heck __is __she __thinking __running __away __from __Blu? __He__'__s __such __a __nice __bird. __How __could __anyone __just __walk __away __from __that? __Was __it __something __that __he __did? __What? __What__'__ll __become __of __them __if __we __can__'__t __find __her? __Obviously, __they __wouldn__'__t __be __together __anymore, __but __what __if __it __became __worse? _Scarla desperately didn't want to think the worst of things, but in this situation who wouldn't? Her ever-growing concern for the couple enlarged as she remembered the seventeen toucan chicks that attacked her and Blu the last time she went near Rafael's home.

When she got within twenty feet of the hollow, the toucan chicks came at her, as if anticipating someone to come near.

Scarla scowled. _Not __this __time..._ she thought before yelling, "I don't have time, you little brats!" unflinching.

Immediately, the toucan chicks knew how serious she was and halted their flight. If a car had done the same thing on a road, it would have screeched loudly.

Scarla flew straight through the three-dimensional minefield of airborne chicks and into Rafael's hollow. Rafael and Eva were startled to have someone randomly fly into their home at this time, not that they wouldn't be at any other time.

Rafael opened his beak to greet her, but Scarla cut him off. "Rafael, you gotta come with me."

Eva butted in. She scowled at Rafael. "Hold on, who is this?"

"Hold on, Eva. There'll be time for introductions later," Rafael replied, having sensed the urgency in Scarla's voice. He turned back to Scarla and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Jewel's gone missing. We don't know why. Blu and I don't know where she is."

"What? We need to go then!" Rafael replied.

"I'm coming too," Eva said.

Rafael turned back to her. "But what about Maria?"

"You two go ahead. I know what to do," she said, walking to the entrance of the hollow. Rafael and Scarla obeyed and flew out. "All of you! Get over here!" Eva yelled when they were a decent distance away. Not even a second later, all of her children were hovering in front of her, looking unsure whether or not they were in trouble for something they hadn't done yet. "I need all of you to watch your little sister."

A loud chorus of high-pitched "What?" echoed around the forest. Then, one chick spoke up. "Why?"

"I need to go find Jewel. That's why."

"But how do we feed her?" another one asked.

Eva flew out of the hollow and came back with a large leaf and mango. She quickly tore through it and started mashing it up on the leaf. "Just use this," she commanded.

Just before she flew out of the hollow, she told them, "If anything happens to your sister while I'm gone, ANYTHING, you will be in... so... much... trouble!" The emphasis she coated her words with was enough to scare them straight. "Do you understand?"

All of the chicks nodded in response and Eva left.

* * *

><p>"Do you know anybody else who can help?" Scarla asked Rafael.<p>

"Just Nico and Pedro."

"The owners of the club?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, go get them."

Rafael obeyed and headed for the city to search for them.

* * *

><p>Blu continued to look and look all around the forest. He had checked tree branches and hollows of at least seventy trees by this point. He panted from the incredible amount of effort it took to check so many trees in such a short time. With tears forming in his eyes, he thought, <em>Where <em>_are __you?_

He thought for a moment for a place that was familiar to her that she might go. After recovering, he took off in the direction of Jewel's old home for a third visit, calling her name the entire way.

* * *

><p>Rafael had managed to get Nico and Pedro out of the club. He was surprised by how easy it was to convince them to come with him; all it took was him saying, "Jewel's gone missing." Nico and Pedro left Kipo in charge of the club.<p>

"Yo, Raffy, why would Jewel run off?" Pedro asked in a concerned voice.

"I don't know! Not even Blu knows!" Rafael yelled over the wind brushing his face and slowing him down.

Nico spoke up. "Hey, Pedro, I think we should check in the city!"

"Good idea," Rafael said. "But look separately, so that you can cover more ground faster!"

"Alright! Pedro, you got that? I'll go this way,"—Nico pointed left—"and you go that way!"

* * *

><p>Jewel overlooked the city. Unlike everyone else, who was currently racing around Rio to find her, she stood in place, forlorn.<p>

_Why? __Why __did __I __do __it? _she asked herself. _Why __did _he _do __it? __Did... __Did __he __do __it __just __because __he __didn__'__t __want __to __see __me __sad __again? _While this was a somewhat legitimate reason to her, she couldn't help but feel that it made her seem selfish. _I __couldn__'__t __have __just __waited, __huh? __All __I __wanted __was __to __be __Blu__'__s __mate... __but __now __that __I __am, __I __feel __worse __than __when __he __turned __me __down. _This was due in part to the pains of pregnancy, of course. She brushed a wing over her belly, as if to check if she was really pregnant. Naturally, she was. _What __would __Blu __think? __How __would __he __react? _She knew that he was the nicest, most caring bird she'd ever met, but... it was impossible to explain the reasoning behind her uncertainty toward him at the moment. She remembered what he said in his sleep: "kids" and "not ready," among other words. She realized that her own name was in between those two words, but they still could have been connected in some way. Then she remembered what he told her last night: "But what if I'm not a good father?" _He __wasn__'__t __ready, __but __I __still __convinced __him __to __mate __with __me, _Jewel thought guiltily. She wanted someone to comfort her. Not just anyone, but Blu himself. She wrapped her wings around herself, imagining them to be his. "I'm sorry, Blu," she sobbed.

* * *

><p>Blu reached his destination and walked in. It was empty; his heart sank. He flew into and checked each surrounding hollow. They were all empty. He landed in Jewel's friend's hollow, hoping that she might be there. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't. He began to lose hope.<p>

After a minute of standing in dead silence, a felt a glimmer of false hope. He thought that maybe she had gone home. He jumped out of the hollow and began flying back home.

...

He landed in his empty home to be greeted by a sudden pain in his heart. Jewel wasn't there.

_Jewel... __Why? __Where __are __you? _He looked at the left side of the hollow, where a mixture of dark and light feathers littered the floor—the spot where they made love for the first time. He saw a ghostly image of them mating. He didn't blush. Instead, it made him feel worse. Tears welled up in his eyes. He closed his eyes, pushing the tears out. The tears trailed down his cheeks. He couldn't understand it; why would she, whom he held so dearly and close to his heart, just run away? ...After such an amazing night...

He sniffled a few times and wiped the tears from his eyes. He needed to get as much help as he could in the shortest amount of time; a big group in which the members could cooperate without fault. He thought of the marmosets that tried to kidnap them back when they were chained together. He remembered the way they cooperated to make a chain to hold Kipo back from flying him and Jewel up to the trolley. They fit his criteria perfectly. He flew out of the hollow to go find them. It wouldn't be difficult. All he had to do was find the area with a bunch of monkey noises.

Blu was absolutely determined to find Jewel. He would persist, no matter how long it took. He couldn't give up on her. He would never betray her in such a way. He wanted to hold her close to him with his wings again. That was his goal: to love and protect her.

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: I'm not entirely sure if that's how they would react. I'd have to give that some thought. I will. Well, I'm at 137.**

**To Bromine: -_-**

**To Ghostofinu: Thanks fo being honest.**

**To Zero2o1o: That they would mate?**

**To Dimitri the Soviet Spix Macaw: Thanks.**

**To Lunyk Stormdragon: Well, it's pretty common for people to censor it.**

**To Ton1546: It's not so much the pregnancy itself that's saddening her, but her fear of how Blu would react to it.**

**To NoRemorse81: It's implied that she ran away.**

**To GhostShadow6661: Yeah, I know. Like I said at the end of chapter 14, for the sake of plot convenience, pretend that it's possible.**

**To C.A.M.z: Yeah, sorry about that. I have never had plans and currently have no plans of ever writing a lemon (sex scene). The leaves as condoms thing was actually Corration's idea.**


	17. Forever

Nico and Pedro were still busy searching the city for Jewel. They hadn't found found a trace of her, not even a feather. They had run into each other during their hunt and joined. They thought that even if Pedro found Jewel, he wouldn't be able to keep up with her in the event that she tried to run.

"Man, where is that bird at?" Pedro asked, as if Nico could answer.

"I don't know. Sure hope she's okay."

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>"Scarla, have you found her?" Antonio asked Scarla as he flew past her.<p>

Scarla came to halt, but continued to flap her wings to keep herself suspended in the air. As he also stopped, she faced him and said, "No, I have no idea where she could be." Concern colored her voice. "What about your friends?"

"I've only run into one of them since I got 'em, and he hasn't seen any sign of her."

"What did you tell him she looked like?" Scarla asked while looking around, as if she would somehow find Jewel.

"All blue. Row of feathers on her head that curl upward, right?"

"Let's just keep looking."

"Alright," Antonio said before flying away to continue his search.

As Scarla flew in the other direction, she began to hear music. The further she flew, the louder it got. Though she knew she had to find Jewel, her curiosity took over. She began to follow it, trying to find the source. Getting closer, she started hearing what sounded like monkey noises. "What the heck?"

Not even a minute later, the source of the sound was practically in front of her face. She landed on a tree branch and was amazed by what she saw. An entire army of marmosets, bigger than the army of Rafael's children, was jamming out to the music coming from a boombox. They were all wearing or holding some shiny object or other, and the various dances they were doing were the main cause for their ridiculous appearance. It was a ridiculous sight, Scarla thought. Her first reaction was to burst out laughing, but cut herself short when she got an idea: they could help look for Jewel! But why would they listen to her? They didn't know her, and they didn't have a reason to help.

Scarla looked around and memorized the location before flying off to look for both Blu and Jewel, whichever came first.

* * *

><p><em>Where <em>_are __they? __Where __are __they? __Where __are __they? _Blu asked himself as he scanned the forest for a pack of marmosets to aide him, though he wouldn't mind finding Jewel first. He hadn't eaten at all today, so the searching was really taking its toll on his health. Still, he pushed himself to forget about food and focus on finding Jewel.

_Should __I __get __Linda, __Túlio, __or __Fernando __instead? __No, __they __wouldn__'__t __be __able __to __look __fast __enough __and __get __to __high __places._

* * *

><p>Nearby, Rafael was searching, just like everybody else. He had also gotten the idea to find some marmosets to help find Jewel. Now he was looking for either Blu or Jewel, whichever one he could find first.<p>

Suddenly, he spotted Blu flying by. "Blu! Hey, Blu!" Rafael yelled after him.

Blu looked back at him and landed on a tree branch. "What is it Rafael?" Blu asked, wanting to end the conversation as quickly as possible, so that he could get back to searching for Jewel.

Rafael landed next to him. "Blu, I just got an idea. You know those marmosets that attacked us before?"

"Yeah I thought of that too. I'm looking for them r—"

"Blu!" Blu heard Scarla call.

Blu looked in the direction of her voice. As she landed next to him on the branch, she said, "Blu, I just found a pack of marmosets," she said as she pointed in said direction. "and I think you could use them to look for Jewel."

Blu's eyes widened. What a coincidence, he and Rafael thought. Blu took a step toward Scarla and hugged her with all the strength he could muster at the moment. "Thank you, Scarla," he told her before flying off.

Scarla and Rafael continued their search for Jewel while Blu went to plead with the marmosets for their help.

...

Blu flew straight in the direction that Scarla had pointed him to. Three-quarters of the way there, he began to follow the music he heard. He landed on the branch of a tree near the site and took a look at the pack of marmosets, who were still dancing. Blu somehow managed to hold back a laugh. He took a closer look at them and noticed one brown marmoset amongst all the other gray ones. He looked oddly familiar... _Oh...__Of__all__the__groups__that__must__be__in__this__forest,__she__had__to__find_this _one._He took a deep breathe and exhaled slowly. "Alright, Blu, just play it cool. Stay calm. Maybe this won't be too difficult," he tole himself aloud. Then, he rolled his eyes. "Who am I kidding?"

He flew down to the ground, keeping his distance, so as not to startle them. He slowly and awkwardly walked toward them, desperately hoping that they wouldn't run. Unfortunately, one noticed and shut off the music. The marmoset yelled, "Ruuun!" and the crowd immediately dispersed.

"No, no, no! Wait!" Blu ordered, but naturally, none of them listened. He saw the brown marmoset and figured that the only way he would be able to get their cooperation was to capture their leader. He leapt after him, using his wings to propel himself further and faster, and pinned him to the ground. "Please, don't run!"

The brown marmoset ignored his plea. "What... Wh-What are you gonna do with me? Look, I'm sorry about what happened at the club. That cockatiel, Nigel, made us do it!" he asked.

"I don't care! I won't do anything to you. Just call everyone back. Please."

The marmoset looked at this predator who had him pinned and could kill him in a second. He obeyed to save his own butt. "Hey! B-Boys, come back here."

Through the bushes, the herd of marmosets slowly walked back to the area they had just left, fearing what may become of them.

"Okay, I got 'em. Now, let me go."

"I don't think I can trust you," Blu replied.

"Wh-What do you want, then?"

"I need you to help me find someone."

"And if we don't, I suppose it's flying lessons, right?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Blu asked.

"He threatened us to bring you and your girlfriend to him."

"Well, I got rid of him already. Now are you going to help me or not?"

"Wait, what was that?"

"I got rid of him."

The marmoset's eyes widened in surprise. _This __awkward __guy __did __all __that __to __Nigel?_ he thought, remembering a picture he had taken about two weeks before. He doubted it. He looked over at one of the marmosets and said, "Hey, you! Could you bring that camera here?"

The addressed marmoset got another to help him tip over and unzip a medium-sized bag. They pulled out an old-looking camera, and picked it up together, being careful not to damage such a valuable object. They cautiously brought the camera to the brown marmoset, who was still pinned down by Blu, and set it down next to them before running away.

"Could... Could you get off me?" the marmoset requested.

Blu slowly took his foot off, allowing him to stand and more easily operate the camera. The leader marmoset turned on the camera and started navigating through a bunch of embarrassing pictures of other marmosets. When he finally reached the desired picture, he tilted the camera to allow Blu to see it. "Was this you?" he asked.

Blu's beak dropped. It was a picture of Nigel... completely naked... attempting to cover himself with a leaf... Blu couldn't even react to it. The picture was just so... out of the blue. _He__'__s __still __alive?_

"The look on your face says it all. Sure, I'll help you."

"WHAT?" all the marmosets yelled in unison.

"You will?" Blu asked, surprised by how little persuasion that took.

"Of course. You got that jerk out of our hair and gave us that awesome picture. Now, who is it you're looking for?"

"You know the girl who was chained to me? It's her I'm looking her."

"What, did you break up or something? Cause I'm sure that there are plenty o—"

"She's my mate," Blu cut in. "She ran away, and I don't know why. Can you help me?"

"Speak no further," the leader replied. He turned to the rest of the marmosets. "Alright, boys, remember the other blue bird we were trying to capture?"

"Uh-huh," they all chorused.

"Good, cause we're looking for her. This is urgent, you hear? When you find her, report back here. Don't approach her. Go, now." At his whim, all the marmosets ran in different directions to begin their search. He turned back to Blu. "You should stay here, okay?"

Blu nodded in agreement. It was probably for the best, since this way he could get Jewel's exact location. "Thank you."

"No problem. Call me Mauro. Sorry about the club," Mauro said, putting a hand out to Blu.

"It's okay. I'm Blu," Blu replied, shaking Mauro's hand with his foot.

...

As Mauro slept in his chair and Blu nervously paced back and forth, a marmoset came back. Blu's heart began racing, hoping that it was a report on Jewel's location.

Mauro woke up. "Did you find her?"

"I think so. I was up on the cliff and saw something blue on top of that huge statue in the city through some binoculars."

_Huge __statue? _Blu thought. He realized that he meant the Christ the Redeemer statue and wanted to smack himself for not thinking of that before, the place she went to to think when troubled.

"Thank you," Blu said before taking to the skies in the direction of the statue.

"Anytime!" Mauro and the marmoset yelled.

_Hold __on, __Jewel. __I__'__m __coming!_

Jewel stood on the white surface of Jesus' head, thinking over her life. So far, it was sucking... a lot. She had lost her parents, Blu, and—

Her thoughts were interrupted by a light _clack_ on the floor behind her. She turned her head back. She saw Blu staring at her, sad, but clearly excited to see her again. She turned her head back to its original position.

"Jewel, I've been looking all over for you. Why did you run away?"

Jewel remained silent.

"Jewel?"

Silent.

"Jewel?" Blu said again, taking a step toward her.

Blu stopped when Jewel spoke up. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, Jewel. Please. I don't want anything between us..."

Jewel didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Be... Because... Because..."

Blu listened attentively.

"I'm.." Tears began to well up in her eyes. "I'm pregnant, Blu."

Blu was unfazed. That's why she ran away? He started to walk up to her.

Jewel heard his slow, haunting footsteps, but didn't move. She didn't really care what he did...

Blu wrapped his wings around her. "Is that it, Jewel?"

"Mm-hm."

"But why did you run off?"

"I was afraid of what you would think. I thought that you weren't ready for a family, so I thought that if you found out, you would... leave me..."

This shocked Blu. He tightened his embrace as tears began to form in his eyes. "Jewel... How could you think that? I love you, Jewel. Last night, when I said I would love you forever, I meant it. I will always love you, Jewel, and nothing can ever change that."

Jewel began crying with him. "I'm so sorry, Blu. I... I put the lives of our children in danger."

"Jewel, please don't cry. I love you."

Jewel didn't reply. She just continued to cry in his wings.

"Jewel, look at me," Blu said, turning her around, so he could face her. And for probably the first time ever, _he_pulled _her_into a deep, passionate kiss. Jewel accepted the kiss and kissed back, glad to know that she still had his love.

He took his beak off of hers and asked, "Do I need to prove it to you?"

"Please, Blu," she answered, showing him the faintest trace of a smile.

Blu smiled back warmly and gently laid her on her back. He got on top of her, being careful to keep out of contact with her stomach.

"I love you, Jewel."

"I love you too, Blu," Jewel said, crying tears of joy.

Their beaks met halfway for a kiss. Blu put his cloaca on Jewel's and began to make passionate love to her for the second time, this time proving the solidity of his love for her. Throughout, Jewel cried tears of joy, overwhelmed with the joy of being back with Blu. She knew that he would always be there with her, no matter what. It did not matter to them whether or not anyone saw them making love; all that mattered was that they could feel each others eternal love once again.

**Sorry for the delay. School work, Skyward Sword, and MLP:FiM have all been distracting me lately. I plan on rewarding myself for finally writing this by watching three episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in the morning (WHY CAN'T I STOP?).**

**Also, if anybody needs a better idea of the first position Blu and Jewel were in while mating, google "cockatiels mating".**

**To : Seeing as how I'm in tenth grade, I don't think I needed to know. But thanks for sharing that information with me LOL. **

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: They're not the same thing.**

**To Dimitri The Soviet Spix Macaw: Thanks. I will**

**To Zero2o1o: LOL**

**To The son of The Scarlet Macaw: Hey, it's been a while. Well, yeah, of course "Sense of Security" is better. Holospartoi (too lazy to look up full name) is a far superior writer.**

**To Ton1546: Yeah, some oneshots get the anatomy completely wrong, which disturbs me for some reason.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Lol, I lied the entire time. I wonder how many people expected me to write one. One of the best? Thanks! I view it the same way; at least, that's the way I think it should be, but you know how people are these days.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Good to see you're eager.**

**To Bromine: I'll get to it.**

**To Lunyk Stormdragon: Yeah, lemons are basically sex scenes in fan fiction. Slashes are typically between males and femslash is between females.**

**To No-Remorse81: It's staying M, because of that scene.**

**To Ghostofinu: That, they have.**

**To Camicazi: You asked that just as I was going to upload this.**

**To whoever the 151st reviewer: I don't feel like waiting for the review page to update, so I'll respond in the next chapter.**


	18. One Week

**Alright, people. After two weeks, here's chapter 18. (I'd better not get any bitching about how this is too short after such a long time.) First, I think I should explain the cause of the delay. Well, I'd been playing Skyward Sword, which is an AMAZING game. It's the definitive Wii game. I've also had some school work to do lately.**

**Now there's something I feel I must address. Let's start now. People, the chapters will come when they come. Asking me when they will come out does not make me go any faster despite what you may think. As a matter of fact, it makes things worse. When you ask me, "When is the next chapter coming out?" I will almost always tell you, "Tomorrow." But then what happens when it doesn't happen? You feel disappointed and I feel disappointed in myself. Nobody benefits. This mildly frustrates me and makes me not feel like typing, further delaying the chapter. This is part of the reason this chapter was so late. On a side note, if you're going to say anything in the reviews/comments, would it kill you to have your review pertain to the story? I have a perfectly good example of what I don't want to see. Here's a review (a word that is used very loosely in this case) from Camicazi: "When are you posting the next chapter?" ...Alright, I'm not gonna sugar-coat it. Seriously? Is that all you have to say? You wasted your time posting that when you know that I reply to comments in the next chapter? What do expect me to say, "I posted this just now."? Even worse, you posted that TWICE. WTF? I deleted one of them, and I was being extremely generous keeping the other one. That's why I'm going to implement a new policy. The next person who does this is getting blocked. Any anonymous reviewers will have their *sarcasm*review*sarcasm* removed. I would delete reviews from actual authors, but as far as I know, I can't do that. Look, I'm glad that you're all excited for the next chapter, but I dislike being asked for update dates. I'm more lenient on stuff like "Hope you update soon!" but don't abuse that.**

**There's another thing. A few authors have been bugging me to read their story or stories. Look, I will read your story if I feel like it. If I find myself bored, I'll probably read your story, but, again, if I feel like it. Telling me over and over again won't get me to read it. No, it actually has the opposite effect. I hate being told to read. I'm the kind of person who reads what and when he wants to, not when he's told to (unless it's for a class, in which case I kinda have to.)**

**Granted, I have done both of these things, but only because the former was after the author hadn't updated in a month, and the latter was because I was being stupid. Then again, I didn't ask people if the could read mine; I asked if they had already read it.**

**So let's review, shall we? No asking for when I will update; that results in you being blocked or having your comment removed. PLEASE, have your review pertain to the story. And don't make up some bullshit just so you can say something that has nothing to do with it. No asking me more than once to read you story. Actually, no. Don't even ask me to read your story. Ask me if I have read your story. There is a fine line.**

**Sorry to sound like a dick. Enjoy.**

Blu and Jewel lay on their backs together on top of the Christ the Redeemer statue, panting from their recent lovemaking session.

"Blu... That... was amazing," Jewel told Blu in between heavy pants. The resulting ecstasy of his lovemaking left her breathless. It was even better than the first time. She couldn't believe how sex could made one feel afterward. But strangely, she didn't really want more at the moment. Then she remembered that she felt the same way last night. She had to wonder, why was it that no matter how good it felt, she couldn't go another round? Somehow, she knew that it wasn't because she was exhausted.

"It was," Blu replied, staring at her tear-stained cheeks. While it did feel amazing, throughout the past ten minutes, Blu was more focused on showing Jewel his love rather than his own pleasure. He was overjoyed to have her, his dear mate, back in his company.

Jewel couldn't believe that until now, she hadn't realized the full extent of Blu's love for her; he would always be there for her, to comfort her, to protect her. His passionate lovemaking was all the proof she needed of that. Never before had she felt so... not alone. She, who had at one point stated that she hated him, was proud to call him her mate. "Blu?" she said.

"Yeah, Jewel?"

"Thank you for coming for me."

"Of course, Jewel. What, did you expect me not to?"

"Well... ummm..."

"Jewel, you're my mate. My one and only. I will always be here for you. Don't you ever forget that," Blu said as he rolled over onto his stomach and put a wing over Jewel.

Jewel stared deep into Blu's brown eyes for a few seconds and smiled. "I won't," she said before quickly kissing him on the beak.

After separating his beak from Jewel's, Blu looked around. "What is it, Blu?" Jewel asked him.

"Nothing. I... I just hope nobody saw us."

Jewel giggled in response. "Well, we're pretty high up. I don't think anybody ever flies this high."

"Yeah, but... I, um... I was only able to find you, because a marmoset saw you from somewhere over there," Blu said, looking behind himself.

Jewel lifted her head and saw what Blu was talking about. The mountains on which some of the forest sat stood around the city. Anybody could see the top of the Christ the Redeemer statue with a good enough pair of binoculars—which Jewel assumed were something that improved vision. "Oh... Well, I guess we can only hope not."

Blu sighed. "I guess you're right." Then he looked at her stomach, which was covered by his wing. He gently stroked her stomach once. He felt the same three minuscule lumps that Jewel had felt. He smiled. "Wow... I never thought that _I_ would ever become a father." Jewel smiled at the fact that he didn't seem the least bit mad or afraid. "Makes me kind of wish I could rub it in those twos' faces," Blu joked.

"Huh? Who?" Jewel asked. This was the first time he had ever brought up Alice and Chloe.

"Just these two geese I knew back in Minnesota."

"Oh. Friends of yours?"

"Uuuuuh, no," Blu answered frankly. "They were complete jerks. They never seemed to have anything better to do than annoy me, especially during winter, when I'd expect them go south."

"Why would they go south?" Jewel asked Blu curiously.

"When it gets cold in the North, birds fly here where it's warmer. Don't you fly north during winter?"

"No, cause it's always pretty warm here."

"I thought all places in the south got cold at some point."

"Looks like you don't know everything, huh, Blu?"

"Not by a long shot."

They stared into each other's eyes for a while, enjoying the sight of each other's smiling face. After a few minutes, Blu remembered something. "Oh, shoot. I hope everyone else isn't too worried." But it was obvious that they all were.

"Everyone else?" Jewel repeated. She felt guilty now.

"Yeah, I got some help from Scarla. And I think she got everyone else to help."

"Oh... Blu, I'm... I'm sorry I put you all through this."

"Jewel, it's okay. I'm sure they'll understand. Come on, let's go."

"Alright. Could you help me up?"

"Sure," Blu said as he stood up. He carefully helped Jewel roll over so she could stand.

She grunted as she got up, feeling a bit stiff. "Thanks..."

"What's wrong, Jewel?"

"My stomach kind of hurts, and I'm really hungry," Jewel answered.

Blu's own stomach growled at the mention of hunger. Come to think of it, it was probably around three o' clock, and he hadn't even eaten breakfast. "Maybe we should get something to eat first. Then we can tell them."

"Okay..."

...

They flew at a moderate pace back into the jungle. Blu stopped for Jewel every so often to allow her to take a break. They easily found a mango tree, in which Jewel rested while Blu brought her a mango.

"Here you go," he said as he tore open the mango with his talons. He disposed of the seed and slid half of the mango over to Jewel, and she immediately dug in. And did she _really_ dig in. She was tearing through it like it was nothing. Blu tried to eat his mango quicker than usual as well, so they could get home quicker. But by the time he could get halfway through it, Jewel said something.

"Blu could you get another one?"

Blu stopped eating. "What? But that's how much you usually eat."

Jewel glared at him. "Just do it."

"Alright, alright. I'll be right back," Blu said before flying out of the hollow, not wishing to upset her for whatever reason.

"Geez, why do I feel so irritable?" Jewel mumbled to herself.

Blu returned half a minute later with a small mango. He knew that they wouldn't be able to eat an entire mango of any other size. He set it down, tore it open, and passed half of it to Jewel.f

They had their fill a few minutes later and flew out of the hollow. On the way home, they heard somebody call them.

"Blu! Jewel!"

Blu and Jewel stopped on the nearest branch and looked around to see Rafael and Eva flying toward them. The two toucans landed next to Blu and Jewel. Eva was the first to speak.

"Jewel! Where have you been?" Eva yelled at Jewel, kind of like a mother would when her teenage daughter comes home late.

"Now, Eva, I'm sure that she has a good reason for running away," Rafael said, defending Jewel.

"I... I..." Jewel looked down at the ground guiltily. She was ashamed that she had put her friends through all this. She was afraid to explain to them her stupid (as she thought of it) reasoning as to why she ran away.

"Guys," Blu said; Rafael and Eva looked at him, and he continued. "Jewel and I... We became mates last night." Rafael and Eva were now looking at him wide-eyed. That was totally illogical; what kind of reason was that?

"That only makes things worse!" Eva said. "You better have a good reason!"

"Yeah!" Rafael said, now slightly irritated by Jewel's reason.

"You two, just go home now, okay?" Blu snapped. "We'll sort this out ourselves."

Rafael was shocked. He had never imagined Blu to be the type to yell at others. "Blu, we're... we're sorry for, um, getting so... mad." He and Eva felt the guilt of getting mad at their friend without hearing them out first.

"It's fine, Rafael. We're just going to go home and forget this ever happened,"—he looked at Jewel—"okay, Jewel?"

Jewel nodded her head unsurely.

"Okay," Rafael said before turning to Eva. "Eva, let's leave them alone."

Eva sighed. "Yeah... Alright... Sorry, Jewel."

Jewel didn't respond.

Rafael and Eva spread their wings to begin their flight back home, but were stopped by Blu. "Wait! Rafael, if you see Scarla, could you tell her that we found Jewel?"

"Of course, amigo," Rafael answered before taking off with Eva.

Blu looked at Jewel again and saw how sad she was. "Jewel, what's wrong?" he asked, using his wing to make her look up at him.

"Blu... They hate me now..."

"No, no, Jewel. They don't hate you. They're just a little, um... frustrated. They'll be fine tomorrow. Come on, let's go home."

Jewel nodded and they took off toward home.

...

That night, Blu and Jewel lay next to each other as usual. Blu had a wing around Jewel to keep her warm.

"Blu?" Jewel said.

"Yeah?" Blu responded.

She looked at him. "Thank you... for always being here for me."

Blu smiled. "No need to thank me. I always will be. Tell you what, I'll take some time tomorrow to build a nest for you and the eggs."

"Okay. I think I'll lay the eggs in about a week. I'm... kind of scared."

"Well, I'll be there when you do."

"And one more thing. Could we not tell Linda and the other guy about this?"

"About us mating?"

"No, the other thing," Jewel said, not wishing to say it out loud.

"Oh. Of course. They never need to know."

"Thank you, Blu. I love you."

"I love you too, Jewel."

They closed their eyes and went into a peaceful sleep, glad to be back in each other's company.

...

When Blu said he'd always be there for Jewel, he meant it. He got to work on the nest the next day. But he realized that he actually had no idea how to build one. You could imagine his embarrassment when he realized this in front of Jewel. At first, he planned to go to Rafael for some help, but remembered that he was a toucan; toucans and macaws probably had different nests. Instead, he flew to Jewel's friend's hollow to take a look at the nest. It was a bunch of twigs, but he thought that would be too hard for the eggs. Then he noticed that it was semi-covered with dry grass. That gave him an idea.

Blu used small twigs as a frame and support and covered it with grass for cushion. "So... um... how is it?" Blu asked Jewel.

Jewel looked it over very carefully. With every passing second, Blu's heart hammered harder against his chest. The suspense was killing him.

"It's perfect," Jewel finally said, more than satisfied with it.

Blu gave a huge sigh of relief.

Everyday after, Blu stuck by Jewel's side, only going out when they needed food or if Jewel ordered him to go outside for some fresh air; she couldn't stand to see her mate cooped up all day every day no matter how much she enjoyed him being there. Naturally, he also had to put up with any mood swing of Jewel's that may have come up.

Of course, Blu informed Tulio that he and Jewel had mated. Tulio gave Blu a bone-crushing hug in response. Luckily, Linda was there to stop him. He promised he'd tell them when the eggs hatch.

...

Then the day finally came. The day Jewel would lay the eggs.

Jewel had been in pain all morning. She lay down, breathing heavily, in the nest Blu had made. They both knew that she was about to lay the eggs.

"Blu, it hurts..." Jewel told him.

"I know, Jewel. It'll... It'll be over soon," he said, trying to sound as encouraging as possible.

Then the pain increased. "Agh!" Jewel yelled. "Do something, Blu!" she yelled desperately.

"I... I don't know what—"

"Just do something!"

"I... I..." He couldn't say anything. Then he thought of the only thing that he thought could help. Reacting on instinct, he forced his beak onto hers.

Jewel's grunting ceased, as did her pain. She kissed him back. It was very romantic, the way Blu was comforting her during the greatest pain she had ever felt.

A few seconds later, they slowly disconnected their beaks.

Jewel smiled at Blu. "Thank you."

Blu smiled back and helped her out of the nest. They both looked at the center of the nest and saw three eggs. Jewel looked at Blu and said, "Beautiful aren't they?" She was still panting.

"Yeah," he said with a smile on his face. He sighed contently. "I can't believe it. In just a few weeks, we're gonna be parents." He put a wing around Jewel and brought her closer to him. "I couldn't want anything more with you."

She smiled, glad to see that he didn't seem afraid of anything. "I could say the same thing." They kissed again for a few seconds before Jewel broke it. "I have to get back to the eggs, Blu."

"You sure? I can watch them for a bit while you go outside to move around. You've been in here for a week."

"Nah, I can last another day. You can watch them tomorrow," Jewel answered while settling herself on top of the eggs.

"Alright, I'm gonna go get us some food."

Just before Blu left, Jewel called him. "Blu."

Blu turned back to her. "Yeah, Jewel?"

"Thanks again."

Blu smiled. "No problem, Jewel. You don't need to thank me. I'll be right back," he said before flying out to get her something other than a mango.

She looked out of the hollow and blushed. _I__'__ll __reward __you __later, _she thought.

...

Jewel shifted in the nest for the umpteenth time that night.

"What's wrong, Jewel? Can't sleep?" Blu asked her

"No, I'm not really tired," she answered. She looked at him. "Do you think you could help me with that?" she asked sweetly.

Blu stared at her with a quizzical expression. "Uh... How can I help?"

She gave him a seductive stare and giggled. "I think you know what I mean."

"No, no I don't." Blu honestly didn't.

Jewel sighed mentally. _Oh, __Blu... __Always __so __innocent. __Never __thinking __dirty __thoughts. _"Come here, Blu," she said.

Blu moved closer to her.

Jewel moved her face closer to the side of Blu's head and whispered something to him.

Blu quickly scooted away from her, surprised by her request. "_That__'__s _what you want me to do?" he asked, blushing madly.

Jewel was blushing just as much. "Yes, I just want to repay you for always being there for me."

"Oh no, Jewel, you don't need to do that."

"But I want to. Do you not want to do it?"

Blu rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes. "Well... it's not that I don't want to. It's just that um... Do we really have to?"

"...I just want to feel your love again, Blu."

Blu suddenly felt the confidence to do it with Jewel again. "Alright."

Jewel smiled in delight. "Glad you see it my way," she said. She stood up and walked out of the nest. "Just wait there, Blu. I need to get something," she told him before flying out for a second and returning with a leaf.

"What's that for?" Blu asked.

"To prevent more eggs. You'll see. We'll need it at the end," Jewel answered. She set the leaf down next to them and laid herself on top of Blu. "Ready?" she whispered to her mate.

Blu answered with a passionate kiss.

...

About seven minutes later, Jewel got off of Blu, panting heavily, to get back to the eggs.

Blu, also panting heavily, got up and disposed of the leaf. They had put it in between them moments before Blu reached his orgasm. They didn't use it from the beginning, because they wanted to feel each other for as long as possible before it ended.

Blu laid down next to Jewel and the nest. "Wow, Jewel. That... was incredible."

Jewel smiled at him warmly. "It really was. It just gets better every time. And we can do it every night."

Blu blushed at the thought of enjoying a love making session with Jewel every night. "O-Okay, sure. But... what about when the eggs hatch?"

Jewel looked down at the nest and then back at Blu. "Well, obviously, we can't do it after they hatch."

"Oh..." Blu said, disappointed.

Jewel giggled. "I guess we'll just have to make the most of the time we have, won't we?"

Blu nodded. "Yeah."

Jewel gave a long yawn. "Okay, now I'm tired," she said.

"Me too. Good night, Jewel."

"Good night," Jewel responded before closing her eyes contently.

**Ugh, I knew I'd get comments about them having sex out in the open.**

**I'd like to acknowledge Corration. He was the one who gave me the idea of using a leaf as a condom. I think he was the first one to do this. If not, I'm sorry, whoever did it first.**

**To Lunyk Stormdragon: There's nothing to respond to in this review. NEXT!**

**To Zero2o1o: Of course he wouldn't be, but Jewel's a rather distrusting and unsure bird.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: Glad to know you liked it.**

**To Bromine: Well, it was either have him be mad at her (as she would think) or have him not be mad.**

**To Dimitri The Soviet Spix Macaw: Thanks**

**To No Remorse81: Um. When it's done, it'll say "Complete" in the description, so you'll know.**

**To Ghostofinu: I actually took time to look up "brazzers" on google. How did you come across this site specifically?**

**To Ton1546: How can you call it a regular basis after only two times and under those circumstances? This is not counting the time they do it in this chapter.**

**To Angel of Light 867: Okay.**

**To holospartoi258 - Alpha 01: First, I'd like to thank you for taking your time to review this. Who told you about me? Actually, at one point, when we were both at chapter 13, I had more reviews than you. But then olihmajor had to go and be a buzz kill lol. **

**Yeah, I took inspiration from Corration, since his stories are the most memorable to me. I also used the same idea as "Spring is in the Air." Have you read "the chase" (which I can't seem to find)? It's one of the most poorly written stories I've ever read. The only thing that saved it was the idea.**

**Between my lemon and yours... Well, I personally believe that each has its own strength and weakness. Yours has some of the best description I've ever read in a story. The weakness though, for me, is that Blu is drunk throughout the whole thing. Also, it seems like casual sex, rather than their first time. My lemon is the complete opposite. It lacks the vivid detail of yours, but it shows the genuine love between Blu and Jewel. I don't care much for being a lemon writer. I would only use a sex scene to fill in a hole in the characters' relationship.**

**Heh heh, sorry. Truth be told, I don't really like Twilight. As a matter of fact, I hate it. Then again, I've only seen the movies, and I've heard that the books are far superior. I would read them, but I'm afraid to invest time in something I'm sure I'll hate. Too many compliments... in one paragraph.**

**Holy crap... So many compliments in one review. Close to flawless? This story is far from flawless. There are little errors here and there that go unnoticed when read only once. Also, earlier on in the story, I would sometimes come up with some new idea that I liked or think of a hole in logic, and I would have give a half-assed excuse through the characters.**

**Whoa, did I just get a positive review from you? Judging by your beta reader page, you're a hard guy to please (mind goes to gutter T_T), so I'm amazed. And the review is so well written... You guys are taking notes, right?**

**Bro Hoof**

**To Super Spartan Industries: Thanks.**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Thanks. I became a brony a few weeks ago.**


	19. Discovery

Blu woke up a bit later than usual, no doubt due to the energy he used the previous night. He looked over at Jewel, once again admiring her sleeping form. He thought about last night, and he blushed. 'Every night' was what Jewel had told him. He smiled and blushed harder at the suggestion. _Whatever you want, Jewel, _he thought. Then he looked at the thin space between Jewel and the nest. Parenthood... Blu wondered what it was like. He had read about it before back in Minnesota out of curiosity. He'd also read a pretty detailed description of love. However, when he experienced it with Jewel, he found that words could not suffice for a description. It was just so different from how he had imagined it. It was so much more... So much better. Because of this, he took what the article had said with a grain of salt. _I wonder what it's really like, _he wondered.

Jewel suddenly turned her head toward Blu. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Good morning, Blu," she said.

He returned the greeting. "Good morning, Jewel. Did you sleep well?"

Jewel smiled. "Thanks to you, I did," she said suggestively.

"Good to hear it," Blu said before pausing for a second. "I'm gonna go get us some breakfast."

Just as Blu got up and began stretching, Jewel said, "No, Blu. I can get it today."

Blu stopped stretching and looked at her. "Oh. Are... Are you sure?" he asked as he walked closer to the nest.

Jewel got up and answered him as she stretched. "Oh, yeah." She grunted. "I could use the exercise anyway."

"Oh. Well, okay, then. I'll just watch the eggs, then, while you're gone."

"Alright," Jewel agreed as she finished stretching. She gave Blu a quick kiss on the beak and walked toward their den's exit. "I'll be back soon, Blu. I'm gonna go get something different today. Careful with the eggs, okay?"

"I will."

Jewel jumped out, spread her wings for the first time in what felt like forever, and took flight. It felt amazing to have the wind going through her feathers again. She hadn't felt this sense of freedom since she and Blu were released in the wild. It was exhilarating.

Back at the den, Blu looked out as his mate flew into the depths of the forest for their breakfast. He turned around and walked toward the nest. He sat on the eggs. Funny how he seemed to know just how to do it.

"Huh. Looks like I do have some instincts," he said to himself. He was impressed with himself. But as easy as he found it to sit on eggs, he realized something. He had nothing to do. Absolutely nothing. When he figured this out, he felt sorry, more so for Jewel than himself. This was how she had spent the past week? Just sitting here? Nothing else? _If only I had something to read... Gah! If only I had brought something for Jewel to read! How could I be so inconsiderate?_

* * *

><p>Jewel knew she was supposed to be looking for food, but she was too distracted by the joy of being out and about once again after a full week of boredom. It felt incredible! She could fly however fast she wanted and do whatever she wanted without having to worry about the eggs.<p>

The eggs... Would Blu be okay with them? He wasn't exactly the most confident bird in the world, and it's always the diffident ones you have to worry about. _Nah, he'll be fine. I believe in him._

"Ah, here's something different!" Jewel said as she spotted a papaya tree in the distance. She could have gotten this closer to home, but she wanted to do some exploring to get as much exercise out of this as she could. She landed on a branch of the tree and stretched to rid herself of any possible leftover stiffness.

"Ah man, that was great. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun!" she said to herself. She looked around at the papayas. "Guess I'll just bring back one of these. Oh, but it's a pretty far flight back..." She looked in the direction she came from. "Nah, I got this!" She told herself with confidence.

Jewel quickly flew up to the best papaya she could find. She got a hold of it with her claws and prepared to clip it from the tree. But a voice stopped her. "Hey!"

Jewel let out a quick gasp. Her heart skipped a beat from the sudden interruption.

The masculine voice continued. "Can you keep it down! Some of us are still a—" He paused. "Cesia? I thought you were going to get some mangos."

"Cesia?" Jewel whispered. She turned around to the tree that the voice emanated from. "I'm sorry, but I—" Jewel stopped when she got a good look at the bird who had yelled at her... This face... It was... She thought she had pushed it out of her memory.

Jewel and the other bird stared at each other for a few seconds, taking in what they were seeing for the first time in years. The other bird was blue, just like her. He wasn't a Hyacinth macaw, though. His plumage was composed of an unbreaking rich blue hue. He was a Spix's macaw, just like her. His name was Santos, Jewel's brother.

But this couldn't be him, Jewel thought. She hadn't seen him in years. Not after...

Santos was the first to make an attempt to break the silence. "Je... Jewel?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His sister... After so long...

"Santos?" Jewel said quietly. She could feel her eyes straining, trying to hold back tears. Then she smiled, still on the verge of crying. "Santos!" she yelled, as she darted directly at him.

Santos couldn't even react. He could only stand there and watch as his long-lost sister approached him at high-speed.

Jewel wrapped her wings around her long-lost brother as she tackled him. Santos thanked that he was able to keep his footing, despite the force at which she tackled him.

"Jewel..." he forced out weakly. "Let go..."

Jewel loosened her grip and looked at him. "Sorry." She sniffled. "It's just... It's been so long. Where have you been all this time?"

He looked at her. She hadn't changed at all since he last saw her. His eyes began to tear up. He was glad to know that she was alright after all this time. "I've... I've just been... living. You won't believe how good things have been. You've missed so much..."

"What do you mean?"

Just at that moment, a feminine voice yelled, "Hey!" much like Santos had. Jewel and Santos looked out of the den to see another blue bird, with a mango, flying toward them. Santos quickly broke out of Jewel's embrace.

The blue bird landed in the den. "Don't try to hide it from me! I saw you hugging her! Just who the heck is she?" As she berated Santos, Jewel looked her up and down. She too was completely blue, save for the black beak and feet. She was a Spix's macaw... But how? Her parents were... Was she his mate? But that was impossible. Blu, Santos, and Jewel were the only Spix's macaws left. That question could wait, though.

Santos defended himself. "Celia,"—_So this is Celia, _Jewel thought.— "this is Jewel. Remember the sister I told you about? This is her."

Celia looked at Jewel. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry. I thought that you were... I thought you were—"

"It's okay. So who are you? Are you his mate?" Jewel asked, trying to make conversation.

"You could say that," Celia said. "I'm also his sister."

...

Jewel's eye's widened. Mate? And sister? Jewel had never been in a more awkward situation. Her brother... With her sis—

"Sister? But I didn't used to have a sister. But then..." Jewel looked at Santos.

"That's what I was going to tell you, Jewel. Our parents are alive and safe."

Jewel didn't know how to react. All she could do was look back and forth at her siblings.

A few moments later, she responded. "This..." She paused. "That's great! Oh, just wait 'til Blu hears about this!"

"Blu?" Santos asked. "Who's that?"

"He's a Spix's macaw just like us. He's— Oh shoot! I'm supposed to be getting food for us! Come on, I'll introduce you to him." Jewel began to run out of the den. Santos and Celia followed.

* * *

><p>Blu still sat on the eggs, waiting for his mate to return. She was taking much longer than she should. He was beginning to worry. But he couldn't go looking for her. She'd probably want him to stay with the eggs.<p>

Suddenly, Jewel landed in the den... without any food. "Hey, Blu," she panted. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay, Jewel. But what took you so long? And where's the food? Did something happen?"

"Oh, something happen alright." Just then, Santos and Celia flew into the den. This caught Blu by surprise. "Blu, this is my my brother, Santos, and my sister, Celia."

Blu's mind immediately got to processing what he had just heard. Siblings? She had never told him about them... But she wouldn't lie to him, he thought, so he scratched that off of the list of possible explanations. Maybe her parents somehow escaped when they were caught...It wasn't impossible for them to have escaped and had two kids. That had to be it, though there was no guarantee that her parents were actually alive.

Santos noticed that Blu was in a nest. He managed to convince himself that the nest was what it was: just a nest. There couldn't be anything in it.

Blu got up from the nest and took a few steps away from it. "Hello, it's nice to meet both of you," he greeted formally.

"Santos, Celia, this is Blu. He's my mate. We had our first eggs yesterday. Wanna see?" Jewel offered, as she walked toward the nest.

Santos couldn't deny it. This bird in front of him... He had... To his sister... He remembered something he thought he'd forgotten about; something he thought he'd pushed into the deepest recesses of his mind. He attacked Blu, tackling him to the floor of the den.

Jewel heard the sudden thud. Before she could turn to the source of the noise, Celia asked in a loud frightened voice, "Santos! What are you doing?"

Jewel looked at Santos. He had one of Blu's wings pinned to the ground with one foot and Blu's throat clenched with the other. Jewel couldn't react. She was to shocked by the sight.

"What did you do to her!" Santos asked loudly.

Blu couldn't respond. All he could do was make pitiful attempts at coughs. He tried knocking Santos off, but Santos just swatted his wing away with ease.

"Santos! Get off of him!" Jewel demanded.

"Santos! Stop it!" Celia repeated.

"Not until he tells me!"

"What!" Jewel asked.

"What he did to you!"

Celia jumped in. "Santos! Get off! He'll suffocate!"

"I don't care what happens! Especially after what he did to Jewel!"

"What are you talking about!" Jewel asked, suspecting what he could be implying.

"Remember what that one guy did to you?" Santos answered, still glaring at Blu.

Disbelief mixed in with Jewel's angry expression. Why would he even talk about that? "He's not like that! You don't know him like I do! NOW GET OFF HIM!" she yelled before lunging toward him. Jewel tackled Santos with as much force as she could. They rolled until they hit the wall of the den.

Blu sat up and coughed a bit, trying to recover all the air he needed.

Santos had hit his head on the wall. This gave Jewel time to stand up. She couldn't hold back, even if he was her long-lost brother. She raised one claw, brought it down on his chest, and made one long, hard swipe down the length of his body. She tore out a few feathers on the way down.

Santos let out an agonizing yell. He couldn't even get up. It just stung so bad...

Jewel kicked him a few times over to Celia, who wore a look of horror. She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. One second, everyone was fine and friendly; the next, everyone else was either angry at someone or being attacked by someone. "Get out of here!" Jewel ordered.

Celia said nothing. Jewel decided to give her time to respond. Blu was just as shocked by what he had seen. He couldn't say anything.

Celia said nothing. Just as Jewel was about to repeat herself, she heard Santos groan. He pushed himself up with his wings and said, "But... Jewel..."

"GET OUT!"

Santos gave up. He fell back down. He trembled from the pain of the huge scar Jewel had given him.

Without a word, Celia pulled Santos closer to the hollow entrance. She picked him up with her claws, which was a real challenge for her, being barely half his age, and flew off.

Jewel walked closer to the entrance and yelled. "I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Despite her anger, tears rolled from her eyes. "Uuuugggh!" she let out, turning to the nest. She stomped toward it, passed Blu, and sat on the eggs.

Finally recovering from shock, Blu stood up. He sadly looked at Jewel and then outside. To Jewel. Back outside.

What had happened. Jewel was introducing him to her siblings, whom he had no knowledge of. Then... he was attacked. Then... Jewel attacked Santos. How could the atmosphere just change so suddenly? Especially when family was involved... But what bothered him just as much was what Santos had said: "Remember what that one guy did to you?"

He stared at Jewel again for a minute before asking. "Jewel..." He paused for a moment to give himself a chance to reconsider. Would she get mad if he asked? But what did that matter? She was already mad... What he would ask certainly couldn't make her more so. He restarted. "Jewel... What happened?"

"What do you think just happened, Blu?" Jewel replied frustratedly.

"No, Jewel. I mean what did he mean. He said something about 'that one guy'."

Jewel's head visibly moved uncomfortably. "It's nothing, Blu." This was clearly a touchy topic for her. But Blu was determined to find out what had happened to her.

"Jewel, please tell me. I just want to help. I need you to tell me. Please... You never told me you had a brother or a sister. I need to know the truth."

Jewel took a while to give him any sort of response.

Finally, she sighed. "Fine, Blu. I'll tell you everything..."

**Just to make things clear, the "out-of-the-blueness" of this chapter is intentional. Blu and Jewel are about as surprised as all of you are.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: I never said that I was going to be using Alice and Chloe. I gave up on that a long time ago. I'm serious this time. I'm not lying like I did about the lemon.**

**To Ton1546: Thanks.**

**To Lunyk Stormdragon: An actual review! Thanks.**

**To Zero2o1o: Nope. Not in this story. This most likely won't change.**

**To holospartoi258 - Alpha 01: Thank you for understanding me. Yeah, I know it's filler, but I tried to minimize the amount by condensing it into one chapter. Otherwise, I'd have to write seven... long... tedious chapters with pretty much nothing happening. The relationship between them is fine. I was trying to establish that they have sex on a regular basis. Well, they'll try to anyway. I don't think anyone aside from Blu, Jewel, Celia, and Santos will appear anymore.**

**To DestinyDragon01: I know it seems a bit much, but I was trying to establish that they'll have sex on a regular basis.**

**To NoRemorse81: I DO understand that people want to read the next chapter, but what THEY need to understand is that these things take TIME and EFFORT. Would you rather have a few decently-sized, well-written chapters or a ton of short, poorly written chapters?**

**To Lazy Reviewer: Thanks for your review. Also thanks for understanding.**

**To Dmitri The Soviet Spix Macaw: Okay... Why? Don't answer this in your review. Talk about THIS chapter.**

**To somerandom96: Ummm... How?**

**To Kutiel: Glad to hear that I was able to keep you up.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: I do not have a favorite chapter. She will not "have her own bed" again anytime soon. They have eggs to keep warm.**

**To Angel of Light 867: Why is that people can't seem to tell me what was good or bad about the chapters I write? No, Nigel will not make a return.**

**To FanficReader1234: Detail...**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: This is not a review or a comment. It is irrelevant to the story.**

**To Zero2o1o: I will admit, that was the original plan. I have scrapped it. I will imply it, but never TRULY confirm it.**

**To BluJet The MacawHawk: Again. Detail... **


	20. The Truth

**First of all, I'd like to thank, Rapture At Sea for proofreading this and making a few changes here and there.**

**Alright, guys. I know you've all been waiting ever-so patiently for this long-awaited installment of "Life After the Jump". It's been four months, so I decided to make it up to you guys (hopefully) by making this update the largest update I've ever done.**

**Before you guys actually start reading, I need to explain something. This chapter frequently goes back and forth between the present and the past. A line break followed by an ellipsis means the story is transitioning into a flashback. An ellipsis followed by a line break means it's transitioning back into the present.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

"Fine, Blu. I'll tell you everything..." Jewel said. She silently stared at the floor of the hollow, still debating whether or not this was a good idea.

Blu looked patiently at his mate. He was unsure if he really wanted to hear the full story if it was causing her this much pain just to remember it.

Blu began to speak. "Jewel. If you don't want to tell me, I—"

"No, Blu," she interrupted. "I... I can do it..." She paused again.

Jewel took a few deep breaths. Then, she began.

* * *

><p>...<p>

It was just another day in the beautiful rainforest of Rio de Janeiro. The sun shined through the canopy of the trees. The floor was damp, but not discomfortingly wet. Everything was perfect.

A three-year-old Jewel lay in the nest made by her parents while her brother, Santos, slept to the right of it. Their parents were out making their daily round for food, which consisted of a few nuts and some fruit, as was the typical macaw diet.

Jewel stirred a bit and opened her eyes. She took a second to rub the sleepiness out of them. "Santos?"

Her brother didn't answer. She tried again. "Santos? Santos, wake up. Santos! Saaaan-tos!"

This time, he noticeably clenched his eyes tighter, annoyed by his sibling's perseverance, which he had always had a very low tolerance for.

Santos groaned before reluctantly deciding to acknowledge her. "What?" He failed to hide the anger in his voice. Not that it really mattered, of course, Jewel being the naive chick she was.

"Mama and papa are out."

"Yeah? And?" This was actually a more frequent than ideal occurrence, but no matter how often she subjected him to this inconvenience. He knew what she wanted, but he prayed that he would be able to get out of it this time.

"I wanna go outside," Jewel told him.

He sighed. Why couldn't she ever get the hint? Why did she have to be so naive? He groaned again.

"Please?" she asked.

"No," Santos responded.

"Aaaw," Jewel whined. "Why not?"

Jewel had a very typical young chick's attitude. According to Santos, her favorite thing to do was annoy the heck out of him, and nothing else. To him, it was almost as if it was the only reason she was born. But he didn't necessarily hate her. He believed that this was all just something that all siblings went through: the younger sibling or siblings (thankfully not the latter) would take advantage of their invulnerability to punishment to drive the oldest sibling to the edge of insanity. So far, Santos had been able to fight off all urges to kill himself.

"Because. I'm tired," Santos answered in a low grumble.

"Pleeease, Santos? Just this one time?"

On the inside, Santos scoffed at that last statement. _Just this one time... puh-lease. You do this _all _the time!_

"I'm not taking you outside today. It's bad enough that I risk my tail for you every other day." Honestly, this was an exaggeration. The days Jewel would pick to wake him up were totally random. At least, Santos had yet to come up with a way to predict those days.

Actually, it didn't really matter much to him when it happened. All he was interested in was getting her to stop. Their parents, being the overprotective ones they were, didn't ever want them leaving the hollow unattended. And this habit of Jewel's (and unfortunately his) always put them at risk of getting in huge trouble. But Santos fell victim time and time again to his own irritability. But he wouldn't this time.

He enjoyed such a fantasy, anyway.

"But Mama and Papa always take forever, and we never get caught."

"There's a first time for everything, Jewel. And I'm still not doing it."

Jewel crossed her wings and pouted. "Yes, you are."

Santos cracked a smile. It was too amusing. I love how sure you are.

"No, I'm not," he said back.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

The next thing he did was a huge gamble. But if it worked, the payoff would be huge. "Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

_Perfect. Just gotta keep it up a little more._

"Yes, Jewel, I am."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am."

"No! I don't want you to!"

"Alright, alright, Jewel, geez. Have it your way," Santos said, faking defeat. He returned to his sleeping position, hiding a rather large grin on his face.

There was a moment of silence.

"Wait... did I..." Jewel wondered. During the repetitive backlashes they had been throwing at each other, she had completely forgotten what they had been arguing about. "Hey! Santos, you tricked me!"

"Uh-huh."

"That's not fair!"

"Course it is. You're the one who wasn't being careful."

There was another moment of silence. Santos only had this moment to revel in his long-awaited victory over Jewel.

But he heard a sniffle from her.

"But... but Santos..."

_Alright, all I gotta do is sit through this this one time. Hopefully, Mom and Dad get back soon... _Santos looked over at Jewel again. Tears were building up in her eyes and starting to run down her cheeks. Her sniffling frequency increased too.

"Jewel. Don't be such a baby. It's your fault."

"But... I just want… to go outside! Why won't you take me!"

Santos cringed at the shriek of Jewel's voice. He pressed his wings against either side of his head to drown out her wailing, but to no avail. He squeezed even harder, but that had almost no effect.

Jewel continued to cry and repeatedly ask him why he wouldn't take her outside, and that it would just be real quick. Every now and again, she'd throw in a "hate" threat. Typical.

After only half a minute, Santos couldn't take it anymore. "Alright!" he yelled. "Let's go!"

Santos looked spitefully at Jewel, whose sobbing had already calmed down considerably. "You... you mean it Santos?" she asked him.

"If it'll get you to be quiet, _yes_."

Jewel didn't say a word. She merely sniffled and rubbed the fluid from her eyes.

Santos stood up and started stretching. "Alright," he grunted. "Come over here." He walked to the hollow's entrance.

Jewel got out of the nest and walked over to him. Santos stretched his wings some more and got behind her.

"Ready?" he asked. _So much for not giving in. Here I am, once again, taking orders from my sister..._

"Yeah," Jewel answered.

He lifted himself off the floor slightly and grabbed her with his feet. He carefully made his way out of the rather narrow hole. Once outside, he slowly descended to the leaf-covered ground. About three inches above the ground, he let go of her.

Jewel grunted as she landed awkwardly, since the drop was slightly too high for her.

"Oops! Sorry!" Santos said.

Jewel got up as Santos landed next to her.

"Santos, that was too high!" she whined.

"Well, excuse me for being tired."

"Hmph."

"And I think I deserve a 'thank you.' "

Jewel crossed her wings. "No. You were mean to me."

Santos sighed. "Whatever. Just do whatever you want. But don't take too long, okay?" he demanded.

"Okay!" Jewel agreed before running off.

Santos sat down and kept a close eye on her. Their home was located in a considerably open area of the forest. There were very few bushes and large plants around their tree. _It wouldn't be too hard to watch her_, he thought.

Jewel ran around the forest ground giddily, kicking up leaves every now and again. _She is getting way too much excitement out of this mundane opportunity_, Santos thought.

_Was I like that a few years ago?_ he asked himself.

He watched Jewel mess around in the leaves for another minute. But then, his vision became blurred. His eyelids drooped a little. He quickly shot his head up and shook it hard.

He made sure Jewel was still where she should be. She was. "Hey, sis! Don't go running off now, okay?"

"Uh huh," Jewel said without looking at him. She was too busy throwing together a pile of leaves.

"There we go," Jewel said, admiring her work. "Hey, Santos," she said as she turned to her brother, "do you like it?"

Santos didn't say anything back.

"Santos!" she called again. Again, he didn't respond, so she walked closer.

"Santos? Are you dead?" she asked him.

He remained asleep.

Jewel looked around the forest. She was curious about what lied beyond the proximity of their home. She shifted her eyes to Santos. And then back to the open. She took another longer look at her brother. "Just really fast," whispered to herself. She then slowly and quietly walked away from Santos.

...

Santos slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them with his wings. "Ah... That's better."

But then he realized what he had been doing. He felt a sudden, very strong discomfort in his heart and quickly got up on his feet. He saw that she wasn't anywhere in his field of view, as she should have been.

He looked to his left. "Jewel?" he called.

He looked right and called for her again: "Jewel!"

His heart rate sped up to an all-time high. He tried to calm himself with deep breaths, but that didn't help.

He flew around the tree once, but still couldn't find her.

_Shoot! She really isn't here! he thought, Darnitdarnitdarn! What am I gonna do? What are Mom and Dad gonna do when they see that she isn't here? That I brought her outside! Even if I do find her, what if they get home first?_ The last outcome was the best situation for him to be in, he figured.

He hovered above the area he and Jewel were and looked for some clue as to where she could have run off to. The higher he flew, the more conspicuous a path through the leaves became. Someone had clearly walked along and created that feature: Jewel.

He traced the path from the pile of leaves Jewel had made to where he had fallen asleep and then away from him, going a dangerous distance away from their home.

_Oh no! Oh no! This is bad! This is really bad!_ he told himself. He quickly flew in the direction Jewel had gone, tracing the fairly straight furrow in the leaves. But the channel became obscured by bushes and the other plants of the rainforest. Just his luck. But he spent no time worrying about that. He chose a direction, flew as low as he could, and kept up the search for his sister.

Jewel kept walking to her leisure, getting as good a glimpse as she could – due to her size and inability to fly – at all the different plants around her. Some appeared to be merely large leaves suspended on stems, while others were flowers that came in all sorts of colors.

"Wow, this would be an awesome place for me and André to play hide-and-go-seek," Jewel said to herself.

She was so caught up in her little adventure, she had completely forgotten about being "really fast" and going home soon.

As she kept walking further and further away from home, something caught her eye. A pile of what appeared to be assorted seeds, nuts, and some fruit. Just out there in the open. Nothing was hiding or protecting them. She made nothing of that observation.

Instead, her stomach growled at the sight of them. She walked toward the small pile.

_Who would leave all this food out here?_ Jewel wondered.

As she walked closer and closer, two poachers watched from a distance behind a bush. "Come on... just a little closer..." one muttered under his breath.

Jewel suddenly stopped, prompting one of the poachers to swear under his breath. "Oh! I gotta get back home before Mom and Dad do!" she said to herself. Her stomach growled again. "Oh, but I'm so hungry... I can just take a little." She started to walk again.

But suddenly, a voice, a feminine one, called her from above: "JEWEL!"

Jewel immediately recognized her own mother's voice, and she froze in place. Two larger blue bodies, those of her parents, landed in front of her. The distraught expressions on their faces frightened her.

"Jewel, _what_ are you doing out here!" her mother asked forcefully.

"And _where_ is Santos? He has a lot of explaining to do," her father added.

"Are they on the trap? Do I do it now?" one poacher asked the other.

"Hold on. If those two stupid adult ones see the food, they may all go for it, and we'll be sure to catch them."

"I… I…" Jewel started before being interrupted by her father.

"Come on, we're goi-" but he was also interrupted, this time by a fourth voice.

"Jewel, what are you doing all the way out here?" Santos yelled. "Now we're in big trouble, because of you!" he landed next to his sister, looking fearful of his parents.

But only for a split-second.

"NOW!" a voice in the distance commanded.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them quickly erupted into a small cloud of dirt. The four birds screamed, the parents screaming the loudest. Jewel and Santos fell backwards.

"Did we get 'em? Did we get 'em?" one poacher asked excitedly.

"I can't tell." The leader squinted his eyes in an attempt to better his vision.

The dust cleared. Jewel and Santos could see their parents in a net that dangled above them.

"Wha-?" Santos let out. He looked toward the sound of voices and rustling of leaves. His heart dropped when the situatuion finally caught up to him. He looked over at his sister. "Jewel, hide," he told her.

"But, Santos, what's-"

"Just go, sis!"

Jewel ran to a bush in the opposite direction the poachers were coming from. Santos flew up to his parents, who were already chewing at the net. He opened his beak and started chewing it himself.

"Gah... it's too thick!" his father grunted with the rope in his mouth.

"I don't think we can get out!" Santos's mother said with desperation in her voice.

"No! Keep trying! I'm not leaving without you guys!" Santos yelled while still biting the rope.

"Santos! Stop!" his father ordered.

Santos complied. He had tears in his eyes. But his stare harbored nothing but rage. He faced in Jewel's direction and yelled, "You see what you did, Jewel?"

"Santos," his mother said.

But Santos continued his rant. "Now do you know why I never want to bring you out here?"

"Santos!" both parents yelled.

"Now do you see what happens when you don't… _fucking… listen_ to me?" he cursed.

"SANTOS!" they yelled again at the top of their lungs.

Santos finally gave them his attention. He could see the humans coming now. They were having trouble getting through the thick plants.

His father spoke quickly: "Now, Santos, I want you to listen to me. I need you to take Jewel with you, and go somewhere far away from here."

"But all she's made of is pure trouble!"

His mother spoke up: "But she's still your sister. You need to escort her to a safer place and take care of her, okay?"

Santos looked both his parents in the eye. "I don't have much of a choice, now do I? Fine, I'll leave."

"We're going to keep trying to get out of this. Now go!"

Santos flew into the fluffy bush Jewel chose.

"We have to, sis!"

But what about Mama and Papa?"

"They told me to take care of you. Now come on!" He picked her up with his feet and streaked off. As he flew away from the scene, all he could think about was their parents. How would they get out? _Would_ they get out?

Then his thoughts turned to Jewel. _You stupid, troublesome, selfish..._ Why should he have been stuck with the task of raising her? Someone his age, now loaded with such responsibility! He wasn't even capable of mating yet, so what made his parents think he would be capable of raising _Jewel?_

But he had to obey them. It was partially his fault, he thought, that this was happening at the moment.

He slowly came to a stop when he spotted a tree bearing a comfy hollow. He flew into it for cover.

He put his sister down on the floor and plunked down against the wall, his heart racing as a result of the draining escape.

"Santos?" Jewel called.

Santos looked at her.

"What's gonna happen to Mama and Papa?" she asked.

"I... I don't know, sis."

"Is... is it my fault?" Jewel strained her voice to ask.

Santos sighed and gave the question some thought. Was it Jewel's for always wanting to go outside? Or his for listening to her and falling asleep this one time?

He decided to take the blame for this, just to spare her the guilt later on. "No, it's my fault. I should've listened to myself and not taken you outside. I should've just stayed put until Mom and Dad got home." He exhaled again.

"What do we do now, Santos?"

"I don't really know. All they told me was to protect you." He thought for a bit and remembered something. "Hey, what about your friend?"

"André?"

"Yeah. Maybe we can go to his... oh, but I'd hate to bother them..."

"What?" Jewel asked.

But Santos paid her no mind. He stood up. "Alright, Jewel. We're gonna go to his home, okay? Maybe his parents can take care of us." It disgusted him to feel so needy and reliant at the same time.

"Alright..." Jewel said back.

...

* * *

><p>"So we went to André, my best friend's, tree. But... he wasn't there. And neither were his parents. We waited there for a day… but no one came home. So we did what our parents told Santos and went somewhere far away from there."<p>

_So _that_ was the full story,_ Blu thought. He didn't know what to say. He didn't even know who he could say was at fault for the incident. But he thought it best not to think about that.

"Jewel..." he sighed, "Why didn't you tell me this before? Why did you lie?"

"Because I didn't want to bring him up."

"Because of what happened to your parents?"

"No, because of what happened that caused us to split apart. Santos mentioned... _him_... earlier."

Blu was reluctant to ask, but he finally did: "Jewel, could... could you explain that too?"

Jewel sighed. "Sure..."

* * *

><p>Celia spat water on Santos's chest. He grunted a little from the stinging, but it wasn't anything he couldn't take.<p>

"Santos," Celia said. She scooped up some more river water into her beak.

"Hm?" he hummed dryly.

Celia spat the water on him, prompting him to grunt again, though a bit lighter this time. "I'm really disappointed in you."

_Don't talk to me like our parents do..._ Santos thought sharply.

"Really, Santos, why did you do that? He seemed like a nice guy. He was her mate!"

Santos sighed and looked directly at the sky as he said, "Kindness can only be trusted so much."

"What are you talking about?"

He sighed again. "Celia, back there, I mentioned someone, right? Just not by name."

"Yeah. What did you mean by that, anyway?"

"I've told you about how Jewel and I got separated from our parents, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well... there's also a part I always claimed to have 'forgotten.' "

"Really?"

"Well... here's what happened. This is why I don't trust anyone with Jewel..." _Let's get this over with quickly..._

* * *

><p>...<p>

The rain came down hard on everything in sight. Whatever rain the leaves managed to catch fell immediately on whatever was below them, whether it was just more plants or a bird who was frantically making his or her way back home.

Another rain drop hit Santos's head. "Hey, Jewel! Could you hurry it up?" he yelled over the rain.

"Yeah, hold on! I almost got it!" Jewel yelled with a papaya stem in her beak. It was the only good papaya they had come across on any tree in a while. But it just happened to have an unusually thick stem, so Jewel was having trouble clipping it.

Santos had offered to get them their dinner so they could get out of the rain as soon as possible. But Jewel insisted on doing it herself. So there they were, taking much longer than necessary.

Another couple of raindrops hit Santos. "Alright sis, you're taking too-"

"No, wait! I think I got it!" she yelled back. The stem was just about clipped.

Santos fell quiet for a second. But he realized that she wasn't even holding on to their dinner. "Jewel! Hey, Jewel, you gotta-"

But he warned her too late. Before he or Jewel could do anything about it, their dinner plummeted toward the ground and struck a rock, the once-pristine fruit splattering in all directions.

Santos stared wide-eyed at their ruined source of food as the rain washed the rock clean of the papaya's contents.

Jewel landed next to him and heaved a sigh. " Sorry, Santos," she said quietly.

Santos's stomach grumbled. He hoped Jewel hadn't heard. "It's... it's okay. I'm not that hungry, anyway." His stomach growled again.

For the past few years, Santos had been trying to keep every shred of irritation he felt towards Jewel under control. He figured that if he was to watch her until she was old enough to live on her own, he'd try his best not to emotionally wound her in some way. After all, they'd been through enough by having their parents torn from them. Even after three years of living together without anyone to look after them, the siblings still bickered every now and again. There was no one to break them up if they were to get into a big fight with each other. There was no one to safeguard them. That's why Santos tried his best to fill the role his parents placed upon him. That's why he took it upon himself to be the adult and support not only himself, but his frustrating, always loveable sister as well.

"C'mon, sis, we gotta head home," Santos suggested. "If we don't head out now, we'll be too wet to fly anywhere."

"Are you sure you know where to go? I don't think we've ever been here. And I think it's kinda far from home..." Jewel didn't mention that everything around them was quite obscured by the torrents of cascading rain. The cloud cover turned the sky a murky gray hue, which certainly didn't make things any better.

Santos pondered for a second. "Yeeeeah," he started nervously, "I know where to go. Here, just follow me."

So Jewel followed him. For a while. A long while. She suspected it quickly, but gave him the benefit of the doubt. But after several wrong turns and mistakes, Jewel called him out on his lie.

"You have no clue where to go, do you?" she asked, sure that she was right.

"Pffft! Of course I know where we are!" Santos bluffed. "We're… sort of far from our tree, and it's hard to see with all this rain." He stared at his sister, who caught his gaze and rolled her eyes.

"Uh huh. Right," Jewel said sarcastically.

"You're right. I don't know where we are," he admitted.

"That's great, Santos!" Jewel said sarcastically. "Not only were we lost before, but we're even more lost now!"

"Well, excuse me for trying to get us home. I'm sorry, alright?"

"Better be."

Santos scowled at his sister. _Geez, you sound like you're pregnant or something._

He spoke up. "Well, staying out here sure isn't gonna benefit us in any way. We'll just have to find an empty hollow nearby and hope that no one lives there." He looked around, half-hoping to see one near them. "And there doesn't seem to be any..." Santos grumbled disappointedly.

"So… does that mean we have to fly around again?"

Santos stated flatly, "Yep."

"And we still have no idea where we are?"

"Yes, Jewel, and we're only gonna get more wet out here. Let's go." Santos jumped off the branch and flew through the sheets of liquid again.

Santos and Jewel stuck together, not wanting to get separated from each other. It took them no more than five minutes to find an empty hollow. They hoped that it didn't already belong to somebody else.

"Alright... finally... shelter..." Santos said as he walked into the hollow.

"I wish we found it sooner. I'm all wet now."

"Hey, you're not the only one," Santos retorted.

Jewel ran her beak through her tail, trying to get as much water out of her plumage as possible.

"Hmph," she said as she preened.

Santos got to preening himself as well, starting with his own tail. When finished with that, he shook himself, spraying the water in all directions. Jewel didn't take too kindly to this, so he moved away from her and continued. Jewel also shook herself dry—somewhat.

Jewel's stomach growled. "Ugh... I'm hungry."

"Well, so am I," Santos said before muttering to himself, "Not like it's my fault or anything."

"What was that?" Jewel asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Santos answered as he continued to preen himself.

"Are you saying that it's _my _fault?"

Santos looked over at Jewel. His expression said, "Are you serious? Do you even feel a need to ask that?"

"Well, it's definitely not my fault," he said.

"Oh, so it's _my _fault we have nothing to eat?"

"Well, not entirely. Humans have been taking some of the fruit. But yes, I suppose it is partially _your _fault."

"_My _fault? You think it's _my_ fault?"

"Well, it kind of is."

"Well, _you... you_ should have told me to hold on to it!" Jewel yelled.

"You're the one who wanted to get it yourself!" Santos retorted.

"Well, you could have reminded me!"

"Do you not know what gravity is?"

"HEY!" a third voice bellowed over their yelling.

Jewel and Santos looked toward the entrance of the hollow to see a Hyacinth Hacaw, soaked from head to tail.

Ignoring the fact that he was taller than they were, since Hyacinths were known to be the largest species of the macaws, they assumed he was their age, maybe a year or two older.

Santos and Jewel stared endlessly at him. They'd chosen the wrong home to invade, even if it had been an accident.

"I just left-" The Hyacinth Macaw shook himself off. "-to get some food. It starts raining. And then I come home to see two blue macaws here arguing their heads off. Guess what? I want you out." He shifted his eyes back and forth between Santos and Jewel as he said this.

Initially, Santos wanted to correct his terminology, but thought it best not to madden him any further. To Santos, the Hyacinth Macaw looked rather benign. His tone, which seemed stuck in between calm and displeased, was what frayed his nerves. That, and his size.

Santos gulped before saying, "Oh... oh, this is your home? We're sorry, we were just... we were just trying to, uh... get out of the rain. But if you want us to leave, we can."

"Santos!" the sole female screeched.

Santos glanced at his sister. "We came in here uninvited," he said.

Santos looked back at the Hyacinth Macaw and saw that he was facing the tempest outside. He turned back to them. His gaze lingered on Santos briefly, but lingered on Jewel for a bit longer. The briefest of twinkles flashed behind the Hyacinth's jade eyes, unnoticed by either intruder.

"You know what? It's fine. You two can stay here for a while, at least until the storm blows over," he said. He took a few small steps toward them and put out one wing to Santos. Santos took a step back. The Hyacinth Macaw didn't seem put off. "Nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Marcelo."

Santos was surprised by his sudden change in tone. Santos put out his own wing and intertwined it with Marcelo's. As they shook, Santos introduced himself nervously. "H-hi. My n-name is Santos."

Marcelo drew back his wing. "Like I said, nice to meet you, Santos." Marcelo looked at Jewel. "And who's this? Your mate?"

"No!" Santos and Jewel both yelled.

"She's my sister!" Santos hollered at the same time as Jewel shrieked, "He's my brother!"

"Alright, alright, just calm down," Marcelo said, a twang of energy in his voice. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. Anyways, where are you two from?"

Santos answered on behalf of himself and Jewel. "Um, we're not really sure ourselves. We flew way out here to get some food. But then it started raining, so we're kinda lost. And that's why we ended up in your home."

"Yeah," Jewel added.

"Oh, alright. But why are you two alone? You both look barely old enough to live by yourselves." Marcelo turned to Jewel. "Especially you."

Jewel looked down at the floor sadly.

Marcelo seemed to open his eyes a little wider for a second. "What's wrong?" he asked.

To get his attention, Santos coughed. Marcelo looked at him. "We, uh... actually don't have parents," Santos said quietly.

"That's unfortunate, Santos. What happened?"

"They were taken from us three years ago by humans. Poachers, to be exact," Santos answered.

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry..." Marcelo said.

"Nah, it's fine. You didn't know." Santos looked at his sister. Seeing how hurt she was, though it was a simple mistake on Marcelo's part, he tried to get off the subject. "You wouldn't happen to know if there are any trees around here that have some food, would you?"

"Well, there's some in that direction," Marcelo said as he pointed to his right. "I could get some food for you guys right now, actually," he suggested.

Santos refused his generous offer: "No, you don't need to do that. It's pouring right now," he said to Marcelo.

"No, it's no problem. You two are guests. Is there anything specific you'd like?"

"Anything is fine." Santos turned to Jewel. "That okay, sis?"

Jewel nodded her head.

"Alright then, I'll be right back," Marcelo said as he turned and walked toward the outside to leave. He spread his wings to take off into the heavy rain. But just before he could leave, he grunted and drew back his left wing.

"Hey, are you okay?" Santos asked as he ran up to him, inspecting Marcelo's appendage.

"Yeah, but my wing's been giving me problems lately. I can't leave lift off without it cramping," Marcelo informed him.

"I see. Here, how about I get the food instead?" Santos suggested.

"No, I can get there faster. I know exa-"

"Hey, we're your guests, remember? It's the least I can do for you letting us stay here. Just point me in the right direction, and I'll be back before you know it."

"Well, if you insist." Marcelo shot his pointy primaries in one particular direction.

"Alright," Santos said, "I'll be right back. Just watch my sister for me, alright?"

Marcelo nodded.

Santos leapt from the rim of the hollow and vanished into the heavenly wash of tears.

...

* * *

><p>"And I got the food. No problem there. But when I got back... he... he was doing an... unspeakable thing to her..." A tear escaped Santos's eye.<p>

* * *

><p>"Jewel, are you okay?" Blu asked loudly.<p>

Jewel had stopped telling the story a minute ago, after reaching the point when Santos had left to get their dinner.

"And then, Blu... after Santos left..."

* * *

><p>...<p>

Jewel, with her head still hanging as she looked in the direction of Marcelo, saw him smirk as he looked outside. He straightened his expression quickly though.

Marcelo walked over to Jewel. "I'm sorry for bringing that up earlier," he said demurely.

"It's okay, I guess," Jewel replied..

"No, it's not okay. I should have thought that it was a little strange that you two would be out on your own."

Jewel chuckled a little. "Yeah..." She looked up at him. "You should have."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? Something that could make you forget I forced you to call up your troubled past?" Marcelo asked sincerely.

"No, you don't have to."

"But I want to. Wait, I do know one thing." He put his good wing to his chin, swiveling his eyes around to survey her from all angles. "But I don't know if we should do it..." he said thoughtfully.

"What is it?"

"It's like nothing else in the world. It drives you crazy. But it could get a bit loud. Honestly, I don't know if your brother would enjoy watching us do it."

"Can you show me?"

Marcelo stuck a persistent smirk on his navy face. "I'd be glad to. Lay on your back."

By this point, Jewel was sobbing profusely. Amidst her grief, she persisted to recount the story through her own hiccups and tears. Blu was stunned by her will to give him a full account of what had happened. He had no doubt in his mind that she was telling him the truth this time. He did his best to understand her as she continued.

Jewel flopped onto her back and relaxed, partially unfurling her wings. Marcelo balanced himself on top of her, keeping himself up with his wings.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Jewel asked him.

He gave her a look that was strange to her and said, "You told me to show you what I meant. I'm gonna thrust all your sadness away."

_Literally, you scrumptious piece of female pie…_ he mused sinisterly.

"Um... okay," Jewel said nervously. "It still seems kind of weird, since you're kind of smushing my stomach. How is this going to make me feel better?"

"It's not just this. You'll see." He kissed her softly on the cheek. Jewel was surprised by this action, but she slowly kissed him back. Her heart fluttered speedily, and she realized her mood had already improved slightly.

Marcelo disconnected his beak from hers. "Is that better?" he asked her in a soft whisper.

Jewel blushed. "A little."

Marcelo chuckled. "There's more to come, because we're barely getting started."

...

Santos, after temporarily battling disorientation,could see Marcelo's tree coming into view. _Hmm... I wonder what they've been doing while I'__ve been gone.__ I just have to wonder. I hope Jewel's not upset... _he thought as he approached it.

But he would have preferred that a thousand times over what he witnessed as he arrived at the tree. Two blue bodies, one on top of the other. The one on top slid back and forth as the one on the bottom moaned in pleasure.

Santos dropped the fruit he was carrying and let it plummet to the ground. Every part of his body, with the exception of his wings, was instantly paralyzed. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. They barely knew Marcelo. He had seemed so kind. Why on Earth was he doing this?

"Hey!" Santos yelled.

Marcelo slowed his pace and looked at Santos. He was too caught up in his own pleasure to spoil it by stopping

"What are you doing?" Santos bellowed.

"What," Marcelo panted, "does it look like… I'm doing? I'm screwing… your sister."

Santos darted at him and tackled him off of Jewel.

"S-Santos? What are you doing?" Jewel asked brokenly.

"Get out of here, Jewel! Now!" Santos said as he got up.

"Why?" she asked.

"Becau-" Santos's reply was sheared off as Marcelo barreled into him and pinned him to the damp floor.

Rather than assist her brother, she heeded his order and abandoned him.

"What the hell? Why were you… doing that to her?" Santos asked in the loudest voice he could muster, despite the fact that Marcelo's talons constricted his throat.

"Santos, you're her brother, so you probably wouldn't understand this the way I do." He moved his face closer to Santos's and looked him menacingly in the eye. "Your sister is one of the hottest macaws out there. I'm not one to let some fresh tail like hers slip by. Ask any other male macaw, and he'll back me up. It's nature. You take what you want, so I decided to take _her_. Get it?"

_You bastard! _Santos thought. His blood boiling, he managed to move his head into a position that allowed him to bite Marcelo's leg, which was left in a vulnerable position. He felt the bones crack and splinter as his beak halves met. Marcelo squawked in agony and trembled. This bought him just enough time to throw the large bird off of him. Santos swiftly got up and ran to Marcelo's side. He picked up one of Marcelo's wings with one foot and put it in his beak. Santos concentrated all of his disgust and hatred and unleashed it in the form of a crushing bite. Marcelo screamed and attempted multiple times to push Santos away with his good wing.

"Ahhh! Stop! Let go! LET GO!"

Santos didn't release his grip immediately. He decided to take advantage of the fact that Marcelo was practically giving him a free shot at his other one. As Marcelo moved his wing again toward Santo's face, Santos let go of the now-injured wing and caught the offending wing in his beak.

Santos glared spitefully at Marcelo, who was clearly struggling to move the injured wing and was too afraid to move the one that was about to be bitten too.

"No..." Marcelo pleaded.

Santos brought down the full force of his beak on the wing, disabling Marcelo. Just what he wanted.

Santos, unable to stand the taste of Marcelo's blood, dropped the wing. He continued to stare at him maliciously. No one, not even Jewel had ever angered him to such a degree.

"Looks like being bigger didn't matter," Santos said to him. Then he noticed that Marcelo was crying. The vile, heartless hell-spawn was actually crying. "Please," Santos scoffed, "Don't start crying. You brought this upon yourself! Man up!"

While the tears stained his face, Marcelo asked, "What are you going to do to me?"

Santos didn't answer. Instead, he took Marcelo by his right leg.

"NO!" Marcelo shrieked, dreading a repeat of the attack that had ruined his left leg. However, Santos simply hauled him over to the rim.

When close enough, Santos turned him, so that Marcelo's head was hanging out of the entrance.

"Don't do this! Don't kill me! This isn't right!" Marcelo asked.

"Earlier, you said that, in nature, you take what you want. Well, I want your life!" Santos yelled as he shoved him out of the hollow. With his wings crippled and in pain, Marcelo couldn't fly. There was no way he could survive this fall.

But he never hit the ground.

Santos heard Marcelo scream as he plummeted. Shortly after, the scream was cut off, and turned into a sickly gurgle. When Santos leaned out and peered down, he saw why. Marcelo had landed on a lower branch belly up. A jagged spear of wood protruded from his chest, drenched in scarlet. Marcelo's wings hung downwards at his sides, the blood oozing from his chest running of his wingtips. Marcelo's stare was blank, his voice mute. He was dead.

Santos didn't waste time revelling in his victory over his enemy. He had to find Jewel. He zoomed out of the hollow.

"JEWEL!" he called. "JEWEL!"

"Santos! Over here!" he heard her call.

She was standing on the branch of a distant tree. He flew over to her.

As he landed, Jewel noticed the blood that was running off of his beak.

"Santos! You're covered in blood! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Jewel," he said dryly. "Now, te—"

Jewel cut him off. "Are you sure? You might be hurt!"

"JEWEL!"

Jewel fell silent.

"Shut up and listen! Tell me... do you have any idea what you were doing in there?"

"Yeah, he was making me feel better!"

"But do you know exactly what he was _doing_! He wasn't just doing what you think he was doing!"

"Then what was he doing!"

"He was _raping _you! _Taking advantage_ of you! He was _using _you!"

"Then why would it feel good, huh?"

"Because that's what sex is! It feels really good, but it should only be done with one bird! A bird that you actually know! A bird that cares for you! A bird that loves you! The bird you're going to be with forever! You don't know him at all! He only wanted you for his own pleasure! He doesn't care about how _you _feel! To him, you were just a piece of meat to be taken advantage of!"

Santos breathed slowly and deeply after his onslaught of an explanation.

"And what bad could come from it?"

Santos was about to lose it by this point.

"You could have gotten _pregnant_! And he's another species! The eggs may have just been a burden! Especially at your age! And do you think even for a second that he would help you take care of them? No! Because he doesn't care about you! Heck, the chicks may have even had health problems or something! Even if they were to turn out perfectly fine, _you _definitely aren't ready for a family of your own!"

"So? It made me feel better! And I _can_ take care of my own chicks!"

Santos snapped. He unleashed all of his pent up anger from the past few years on her with every insult he had been keeping back.

"UGH! _Why_ are you so fucking stupid? Ever since I can remember, you've been nothing but a little nuisance to me! _Every_ morning, you used to wake me up early to take you outside. And when I said no, you go and start whining and bitching. And I took you outside. _Why_ are you so selfish? You always try to blame me whenever something is clearly _your _fault! And you know what? It's not even my fault that our parents got taken away. It was _your _fault! _You're _the one who wanted to go outside, as always. It was _you _who wandered off! It was _you _who got them caught in that trap! And now, you're acting just as stupid as always! You had no clue that he was trying to take advantage of you! And now, you won't even listen to me!"

He took several steps toward Jewel as he yelled all this. She took several steps backward in response.

"So what do you have to say now, Jewel? Huh? Are you gonna get Mom or Dad to stop me? Oh, that's right! They're not with us right now, because of _you_! And are you going to try to say it's all somehow my fault? I'm not gonna hear it! It's _all. Your. Fault!_

Jewel was in tears. This was the first time her brother had lashed out at her in such a way.

She mumbled something.

"What?" Santos yelled.

"I hate you, Santos..." Jewel said quietly, but much more audibly than before.

She jumped off the branch and flew away from him.

"You don't treat me like a sister, you treat me like trash! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" she bellowed.

"Fine! Leave! I'm better off without you, anyway! Good luck surviving out there on your own. You won't last a day without me!"

Santos took off in the other direction.

...

* * *

><p>Santos sat up next to Celia and wept heavily over his past loss. "That's what caused us to split up." He hiccuped. "I said all those horrible things to her... I don't know if it was my fault, or Jewel's fault, or his fault. I still don't even know if I meant all of those things. I just wish I could take it all back." He gently brushed his wing over his scar.<p>

Celia also shed tears. She hadn't known he'd been through this ordeal. Santos had never told her about his anger toward his sister. Or about how she was raped.

Celia brought Santos into a tight embrace. Though it disturbed his scar a little, Santos hugged his sister back, crying harder than before.

"Oh, Celia... What do I do? I've already lost her before... And now I've lost her again... After what I did to her mate, how can I ask her to forgive me? How can tell her I'm sorry for what I said to her and for attacking her mate?"

Celia let go of him and looked him in the eye. "Santos," she whispered, "there's only one thing you can do. And that's just to go to her and ask her for forgiveness. You need to show here that you're truly sorry.

Santos wiped a tear from his eye. "But what if she doesn't forgive me?"

"I can't guarantee that she will. But even if doesn't, Santos, she's still your sister, so you need to love her whether or not she still loves you."

Santos shed more tears at the thought of Jewel rejecting his apology.

"I... I need to think, Celia," he told her.

* * *

><p>Jewel sobbed more and more in the nest. Blu knew there was nothing he could do at the moment to stop her. She had gotten out of the nest, so she wouldn't put the eggs at risk with the heaving of her stomach and chest.<p>

"He said those horrible things to me, Blu... But you know what? He's right. All I am is trouble. It's my fault that we lost our parents. And I was too stupid to realize what was going on when Marcelo... When he did that too me."

Blu wasn't thinking about the fact that he wasn't truly her first, but rather how he could possibly help to fix the problem between Santos and Jewel. Needless to say, he was at a loss.

But he still put forth some effort to comfort her. "No, Jewel, don't say that. You're not trouble."

"Yes, I am, Blu. Don't lie to me."

Blu tried to think of some way to convince her otherwise. Admittedly, Jewel actually did seem like a lot of trouble as chick. (For a moment, this made him worry that their chicks would be just as troublesome.) But technically, he figured, this meant she _had_ _been _trouble. She couldn't possibly still be like that.

"But, Jewel, that was more than ten years ago."

"And more than ten years ago, I got my parents taken away."

"But, Jewel, they're fine."

"That doesn't change what I did..."

"Alright listen, Jewel!" Blu snapped. "Be glad that you have parents. You're lucky to have parents right now. As far as we know, we, they, and your siblings are the only Spix's macaws on the entire planet. Aside from you, I don't have any close family members. I never knew my parents. For all I know, they could be dead right now. But yours are still here. I know what happened hurts. I understand. But that's all in the past. You need to forget what happened and forgive yourself."

Jewel looked at Blu. Blu stared back deep into her eyes that were glossed with tears.

Jewel kissed Blu on the beak. She realized he was right. For the past ten years, she had been hiding her inner pain from everyone she met, even her own mate. She'd been beating herself up over her past mistakes all this time. But she had to let go of all that. She had to move on. Her life wasn't the living hell she had thought it was. She had her family back. She had a mate who cared for and loved her with all his heart. She couldn't do anything about what Marcelo had done, but she could forget that. The current positives far outweighed the past negatives.

They parted. Jewel sighed and Blu smiled at her. "You're right, Blu. I shouldn't let that hold me back from being happy."

"That's right, Jewel," Blu said.

"But..."

"But what?"

"What about Santos?" Jewel asked. "And my sister? Would they forgive me for scratching him like I did?"

"Jewel. They're your siblings. They love you, and they always will, just as I will. If you'd like, I could try to find them."

They heard a loud sniffle and looked toward the opening of their hollow.

Jewel spoke up. "S... Santos?"

They saw Celia fly in first, though. Blu and Jewel stood up. "Oh, uh... Hi." Blu greeted.

"Hello to you too," Celia said back nervously.

"W-Where's Santos?" Jewel asked her.

Celia smiled at her. She turned around and looked at something outside of the hollow. Something that was out of Blu and Jewel's vision. "See, Santos? She does want to see you. Come on in."

Celia stepped to the side as Santos flew in. Jewel didn't notice the scar on his chest or the water that soaked it. She just looked at his face. She could see that he had been crying and was currently holding back his tears.

Santos spoke first. He skipped the greetings.

"Jewel, I want to say I'm sorry." More tears ran down his face. "I'm sorry. For all the things I said to you back then. I wish I could take it all back, I really do. I don't know why I said those things to you, my own sister. I should have done a better job protecting you, like Mom and Dad wanted me to." Santos hiccupped. "When I found them and told them that we separated, I'd never seen them so mad before. But they could never be more mad than I was at myself. I know can never undo the wrong I committed. But all I can say is I'm sorry. I truly, truly am." Santos then turned to Blu and said, "And, Blu. I also want to apologize for attacking you. It was horrible for me to assume that you had taken advantage of my sister. I shouldn't have jumped to such a conclusion. I hope that you can also forgive me." Santos shut his eyes tightly and hung his head.

Jewel walked up to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, much to his surprise. "Santos, I forgave you a long time ago. But I don't know if I'm right to forgive you." She felt Santos freeze at this statement. "What I mean is, I don't blame you for what happened. I realized a long time ago that it was my fault."

Santos wrapped his wings lightly around her. "Don't say that," he told her.

Jewel loosened her grip on him and took a step back to look at him. "But we—I mean, I need to put that behind me. My mate taught me that."

Santos looked at Blu. Blu gave a friendly smile. Santos could see that he didn't hold a grudge against him.

Jewel continued. "It's in the past. And everything's fine now." She looked at his wet chest and saw the cut she had left on it. She looked back up at him with a frown and said, "Well. Almost. I owe you an apology myself, Santos."

"You don't need to," Santos told her. "I attacked your mate, and you were just trying to help him. I understand that." He fell silent for a few seconds.

"So," he finally said, "you really forgive me?"

Jewel smiled. "Even though there's no need," she said, "yes. But do you forgive me?"

"Yes," Santos said simply.

Santos and Jewel hugged each other again happily.

Celia walked over to Blu and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you, Blu," she said.

"M-me? For what?" Blu asked.

"Jewel said you taught her to let go and move on. I've been trying to teach Santos the same thing for years. And I guess all it took was Jewel to get him to understand."

"Your welcome," Blu said simply.

...

Blu, Jewel, Santos, and Celia spent the rest of the day reintroducing and properly acquanting each other, filling each other in on their life stories, and just enjoying long conversations with each other. As a family.

Blu had taken Santos to Tulio to get fixed up. Naturally, Tulio practically squealed like a fangirl at a Justin Bieber concert at the discovery of another Spix's macaw. Tulio even scheduled an exploration of the jungle for the following week to look for possibly even more Spix's macaws. Santos told Blu that it was highly unlikely he would find any, since he hadn't seen any others aside from his own family in the past decade.

When Santos and Jewel said their goodbyes to each other, they both cried and reminded each other over and over again that they loved each other and didn't hold anything against the other. Blu and Celia, on the other hand, shared a tearless goodbye. They just gave each other a short hug and acknowledged each other as siblings. Both couples promised to see each other again very soon, but next time with Jewel's parents.

...

Santos and Celia landed inside their own home.

"Man, what a day, huh, Santos?" Celia said.

"Yeah, I know. I can't believe that I actually got to see her again. If I was to die, I could die without any regrets," Santos sincerely.

"No regrets? Really? Isn't there _one _thing left for you to do?"

"I think I know what you're getting at, Celia, but we've already done that."

"No, I mean the result of that. What's supposed to be the result, anyway. The eggs. A family."

"I've already told you, I don't feel that either of us is ready for that level of commitment. I was already put through the awkwardness of being mates with my sister. Not that I regret it, of course." Santos put his wings up defensively.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean, Santos."

"Heh heh... So, uh... What did you think of our sister? And her mate?"

"I think they're a great couple. Jewel got really lucky. Her mate can read and write the human language!"

"Yeah, that's amazing. I'd heard that some pe—, uh... Some companions could do that, but I never thought I'd get to actually meet someone who could."

"Me neither." She looked outside. "It's getting kinda late. You wanna hit the hay?"

"Do what now?" Santos asked.

"Oh, Blu said that earlier. I think it means go to sleep, or something..."

"Oh. Well, in that case, sure." Santos walked to the back of the hollow and lied down. Celia followed suit and lied down next to him, snuggling him. "We gotta go look for mom and dad tomorrow, so we can introduce them to Blu," Santos said.

"Yeah, I know," Celia said.

"Good night," they both said to each other before sharing a quick kiss. They closed their eyes, resting themselves up for the next day.

* * *

><p>Jewel got out of the nest to give herself a break and to let Blu have another chance at caring for the eggs. Blu sat on them carefully as he had done earlier that day.<p>

"So, Blu, how was my brother?" Jewel asked.

"He seems nice," Blu said. "Ignoring the fact that we got off on the wrong foot, of course." He chuckled.

Jewel sighed. "I'm glad to have him back. I've missed him so much." Pretty soon, the excitement in her voice ramped up. "And pretty soon, I'll get to see my parents!"

"Uh-huh," Blu replied. Blu dropped the smile he'd been wearing before.

"Blu, what's wrong?" Jewel then realized the insensitivity of her mentioning of parents. "Oh, Blu, I'm sorry! I shouldn't've brought that up! I forgot that you... That you don't know yours..." Jewel's voice trailed away.

"Huh? Oh, you think I'm upset about that? Nah, it's not that, Jewel. I'm perfectly content with you and them as my family. It's just that... Do you think they'll accept me? As their son in law and you mate?"

"Oh. Well, I can't believe you're even worried about that, Blu. You have a wonderful personality, and you're the smartest bird I've ever known. You have nothing to worry about."

Blu shrugged. "Eh. I guess you're right." He looked at her. "I can't wait to meet them then."

"I can't wait for them to meet you too."

With nothing else left to say, they kissed each other.

"Good night," they both said before going closing their eyes and entering a deep, peaceful sleep.

And so Blu and Jewel would continue their lives together. They were eternally bonded by the love between them. Blu had changed so much since arriving in Rio de Janeiro. Within the past month, he had learned to fly, he had found a mate, he had started a family, and even met some new family members. He was no longer that "pathetic", flightless, socially awkward bird (for the most part). Every day, to him, seemed to be something new, challenge or not. But he was no longer afraid of what the next day had planned for him. Rather, he looked forward to it.

**So there you have it. The last chapter of this story. Yes, you read that right. Not only is this the longest chapter, surpassing the previous longest chapter by several thousand words, but it's also the chapter that ends it. It took me seven months, but I've finally done it. I've completed my first fanfiction. And, boy, does it feel great to say so.**

**Over this story's lifespan, it has gained over 200 reviews, making this (as of me typing this) the second most reviewed Rio fanfic. I guess that makes this a huge success! I'm glad you've all enjoyed it as much as you guys have said you did.**

**But you're probably wondering about the sequel. I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you. I'm not entirely sure about doing the sequel. I'm sorry, but my inspiration tap has just run dry. But I'll be writing for another archive. If you know what a brohoof is, head on over to FiMfiction and you'll find me on there as well. I don't know when I'll start writing again, but it should be soon. It just depends on how I'm feeling.**

**And I hate to do this but: Now that I've finished, you should totally leave a review of this chapter or this story as a whole. But before you do that, hear me out. Since I took the time and effort to make this chapter for all of you, how about you all return the favor by writing a nice, long review for me?**

**Alright, I'll let you guys do that. Until whenever I start writing again. Later!**


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